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UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 



THE SOUL-WINNER 



A SKETCH OF 



FACTS AND INCIDENTS IN THE LIFE 
AND LABORS OF 

EDMUND J. YARD, 

For Sixty-three Years a "Class-Leader" and Hospital- 
Visitor in Philadelphia. 

BY HIS SISTER, 

MRS. MARY D. JAMES. 



He that winneth souls is wise." Prov. xi, 30. 



WITH AN INTRODUCTION BY D. P. KIDDER, D.D. 



NEW YORKS.^ 
PHILLIPS & HUNT. 



CINCINNATI : 

WALDEN & STOWE 

1S83. 



[I THE LIBRARY 
I Or CONGRESS 

[iWASHl 



WASHINGTON 






Copyright 1883, by 
PHILLIPS & HUNT, 

New York. 



PREFACE. 



MANY friends of Edmund J. Yard have 
expressed a desire for the publication 
of a record of his life. 

It has seemed to me that the work of pre- 
paring such a record should be performed by 
some one more competent than myself, but 
those whom I deem judicious advisers insist 
that the task — pleasing in itself, yet beset with 
many difficulties — should be undertaken by his 
only sister. 

As a feeble tribute to one of the best of 
brothers, it is sent forth with the fervent 
prayer that He who made Edmund J. Yard 
what he was, may use it for the encourage- 
ment and profit of many of His dear children, 



4 Preface. 

and especially that by it some may be incited 
to earnest effort on the lines of Christian use- 
fulness in which he moved. 

The fields for such usefulness are ever'open, 

and the wants of perishing humanity within 
them are ever pleading for sympathizing work- 
ers. Those who are disposed to respond to 
the calls of the Master for laborers to work in 
his vineyard, but feel their lack of the skill and 
perseverance necessary to large success will do 
well to study the examples of Christian work 
narrated in the following pages. 



INTRODUCTION 



TV If Y personal acquaintance with the sub- 
ject of the following memoir com- 
menced in 1843, when I was pastor of the 
Greene-street Church, Trenton, N. J., in which 
his mother, brother, sister, and other relatives 
were members. From that time forward to 
the close of his earthly pilgrimage, I counted 
him among my dearest Christian friends. 
I was accustomed to call upon him when- 
ever I could, and always found my inter- 
views with him instructive and refreshing in a 
religious point of view. He was thoroughly 
in sympathy with all the duties and enter- 
prises in which, from time- to time, I was en- 



6 Introduction. 

gaged, whether pastoral, editorial, secretarial, 
or educational. His experiences, in fact, 
though in a local sphere, touched upon all 
these lines of Christian effort, and became to 
me in my official work an added inspiration. 
I can therefore testify from personal knowl- 
edge to his large-hearted hospitality, his Chris- 
tian generosity, and his intelligent apprecia- 
tion of every branch of Church work, as well 
as to his tireless zeal to win souls for Christ 
and build them up in Christian character by 
every means in his power. 

For many years I was accustomed to speak 
of him as the MODEL CLASS-LEADER, and to 
say that for this characteristic, if for no other, 
his life ought to be handed down to posterity 
in a well-written biography. But when to this 
characteristic were added those of the hospital 
visitor, the revival worker, the Bible giver, the 
Christian letter-writer, and the man who had 
the capacity, the tact, and the faith to win 



Introduction. 7 

souls for Christ in all varieties of circumstances, 
I deemed it of no small importance that me- 
morials of his life and labors should be pre- 
pared for publication. I was, therefore, great- 
ly pleased when his sister, Mrs. James, although 
in feeble health and pressed with other en- 
gagements, undertook the task of writing the 
present volume. How favorable was the result 
anticipated by others also may be seen from 
the following resolutions passed respectively 
by the Philadelphia and New Jersey Confer- 
ences at their sessions of 1880. 

The session of the Philadelphia Conference 
for that year was held in the Union Church, 
of which Mr. Yard had been so long an hon- 
ored member. It was therefore with exceed- 
ing appropriateness that the Rev. Joseph Cas- 
tle, D.D., who had once been his pastor, and 
who has since departed this life, offered the 
following preamble and resolutions, which were 
unanimously adopted : 



8 Introduction. 

Whereas, The late Edmund J. Yard was extensively 
known and greatly beloved in his capacity of class-leader 
and hospital visitor in the city of Philadelphia ; and 

Whereas, We have learned with pleasure that a me- 
moir of his life r.nd labors has been nearly completed by 
his esteemed sister, Mrs. James ; and 

Whereas, We believe a record of his worthy example 
as a Christian worker will be greatly calculated to do 
good, both in the present and in coming generations; 
therefore, 

Resolved, That this Conference heartily commends to 
our Book Editors and Agents in the New York publica- 
tion of the proposed memoir in such style and form as 
will conduce to its wide circulation. 

The New Jersey Conference met the same 
year in the city of Camden. In that body a 
similar paper was offered by Revs. Charles 
H. Whitecar and John S. Heisler. It was 
passed with cordial unanimity in the follow- 
ing terms : 

Whereas, The late Edmund J. Yard, who was for the 
long period of sixty-three years, a successful class-leader 
and hospital visitor in Philadelphia, was well and favor- 



Introduction. 9 

ably known to many ministers of this Conference, and to 
many members of our churches ; and 

Whereas, We have learned that Mrs. Mary D. James, 
also well known to us as an able writer, has nearly com- 
pleted a memoir of the life and labors cf her lamented 
brother, under a most appropriate title, "The Soul Win- 
ner;" and 

Whereas, We cannot doubt that such a work will be 
extensively popular and useful ; therefore, 

Resolved, That we respectfully recommend to the 
Book Agents at New York the prompt publication of 
the said memoir, pledging ourselves hereby to promote 
its circulation as extensively as practicable among our 
people. 

Now that the book, as prepared by Mrs. 
James, is accessible to the public, it may be 
commended as adapted to general and wide- 
spread circulation. Although brief and unpre- 
tentious, it will be found worthy to take rank 
with the best religious biographies, and as 
such to serve as a means of instruction and 
edification to all who may peruse its pages. 

To many surviving friends it will come as a 



io Introduction. 

joyous and profitable reminiscence of a person 
only known to be loved and venerated. To 
those who are inquiring how they may become 
useful as Christians, it will give the plainest and 
most satisfactory answers possible in the form 
of a practical example. 

The following characteristics of the book 
entitle it to a deserved popularity: 

1. It is American. Much of the religious 
biography circulated in this country is of for- 
eign origin, and although excellent in charac- 
ter and influence, is less relevant to the cir- 
cumstances of American readers than the 
matter of the present volume. 

2. It presents a beautiful example of Chris- 
tian character and influence from common and 
secular life. A large proportion of religious 
biography, both English and American, is cler- 
ical and, therefore, limited in the range of its 
special instructiveness. Here is an example 
taken from every-day business life, and yet 



Introduction. i i 

abounding in admirable traits of character and 
incidents of extraordinary usefulness. On 
every page it illustrates the principle so well 
embodied in a couplet of the hymn entitled, 
44 Your Mission:" 

"If you want a field of labor, 
You can find it anywhere." 

3. In size, style, and subject it is adapted to 
interest and instruct the young. Hence it 
should have a place in every Sunday-school 
library and in many families, and should be 
commended to children and youth who desire 
to make their lives beautiful if not sublime. 

4. It is specially adapted to be placed in 
the hands of Christian converts as a means of 
teaching them by example how to develop 
Christian character through acts and habits of 
usefulness. Hence it should be widely circu- 
lated as a tract volume. 

5. Added to all this, the book has special 



12 Introduction. 

charms for persons advancing in years. It ex- 
hibits a rare instance of an old age green and 
beautiful, notwithstanding the ills and adversi- 
ties to which humanity is subject. It shows 
how the palm-tree, planted by the river of 
God, bears fruit in old age, while its leaf does 
not wither till transplanted to the paradise 
above. D. P. K. 

New York, Sept., 1881. 



CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER I 

BOYHOOD. 

Birth and parentage — Early traits — Helpfulness to his moth- 
er — Religious convictions Page 21 

CHAPTER II. 
WON BY THE WORD. 

Bible-reading — A great change — Love for God, his word, 
his worship, and his people — Methodist meetings — A decisive 
act — Opposition — Joining the Church — A rebuke to triflers — 
Persecutions and triumphs 25 

CHAPTER III. 

FIRST TROPHIES. 

Opposers conquered by love — Personal effort — A young man 
forsakes the ball-room for the prayer-meeting — Young men 



14 Contents. 

converted and their subsequent career — First Methodist 
church in Trenton, N. J. — " Bethesda" — The "boy preacher" 
and the effect of his message Page 35 



CHAPTER IV. 

LIGHT ON THE PATHWAY. 

Helpers — "Living grace" and "dying grace" — Made a 
class-leader — Camp-meeting — Learns of the "higher Chris- 
tian life " — Meeting for the promotion of holiness 44 



CHAPTER V. 

NEW POWER. 

Conference in Philadelphia — Devoted women — Rev. Joseph 
Lybrand — Experience of perfect love — Divine anointing for 
work — Views of the Christian life 53 



CHAPTER VI. 

NEW OPPORTUNITIES. 

Removal to Philadelphia — Helpful associations — Mrs. Page 
and her work in prisons and hospitals — Influence of her ex- 
ample — Signal answer to prayer — His mother— Her happy 
death , 62 



Contents. 15 

CHAPTER VII. 

TAUGHT IN THE SCHOOL OF ADVERSITY. 

Marriage — Domestic felicity — Entrance into business — Re- 
verses — Months of darkness — A message from God — The way 
providentially opened — An honest insolvent — Bereavement — 
Refining influence of trial Page 69 

CHAPTER VIII. 
SELF-SACRIFICING LABOR. 

Christian effort among sick colored people — Trophies — A 
hard heart melted by love — A consumptive healed, body and 
soul — Joy in work for Jesus - 77 

CHAPTER IX. 
IN THE CLASS-ROOM. 

Class-leaders sub-pastors — Mr. Yard's work and pop- 
ularity in this sphere — Recollections of one of his class- 
members — Use of the sword of the Spirit — Skill in enlist- 
ing sympathy and prayer in behalf of the afflicted and im- 
penitent — Happy results — Leading four classes each week 
— Habits of promptness — Visits to the sick — Bedford Street 
mission-class 86 



1 6 Contents, 

chapter x. 

AT THE HOSPITAL. 

Sabbath afternoons among sufferers — Characters reached — 
The benediction of his presence and words — The young 
Dane — The wounded coal-heaver — The dying consump- 
tive — "The sailor-boy" — "Nobody cares for sailors" — 
An orphan — Converted — Discouraged — Reclaimed — Bravery 
in naval engagement — Subsequent illness and triumphant 
death — Honored at his funeral Page 99 

CHAPTER XL 

AT CAMP-MEETINGS. 

Too busy for summer vacations — The patriarch in his cher- 
ished work amid the spiritual influences of the tented grove — 
A hardened young man awakened — Terrific conflict — For- 
gives and is forgiven 1 19 

CHAPTER XII. 

ON THE WING. 

Conversations on steam-boats and railway trains — A summer 
excursion and its results — An invalid — Indifference melted 
away by kindness — The sick man and his kindred saved — A 
skeptical soldier conquered for Christ 120 



Contexts. 17 

CHAPTER XIII. 

WRITING LETTERS FOR JESUS. 

The value of religious correspondence — The large circle of 
Mr. Yard's correspondents — A Christian friend counseled 
and encouraged — Appeals to a young man to decide for 
God Page 138 

CHAPTER XIV. 
LABOR VARIED AND ABUNDANT. 

Public addresses — Not a preacher, yet popular and effective 
as a speaker — Secret of his power — Among firemen — A mem- 
ber of " Hope Hose Company " — Influence with this class of 
young men — A sick fireman saved — Work among prisoners — 
A wanderer reclaimed— Visiting the almshouse — Distributing 
Bibles — Thousands of copies of the sacred word given to fire 
men, soldiers, and young converts 148 

CHAPTER XV. 

INDIRECT INFLUENCE. 

The ever-widening influence of efforts for souls — Many such 
waves set in motion by this " soul-winner" — The young book- 
keeper's conversion — The Sabbath-keeping firm in a Western 
9 



1 8 Contents. 

town — Religious worship — The town transformed — Regard 
for God's day rewarded Page 166 



CHAPTER XVI. 

HOME LIFE. 

The protracted suffering of Mrs. Yard — Her husband's de- 
votion — Her death — The removal of his son's family to his 
house — A Thanksgiving Day reunion — The death of his 
first-born — Hospitality — Wounded soldiers at his table — 
Guests during the Centennial Exhibition — A granddaughter's 
tribute 173 



CHAPTER XVII. 

TRIALS AND TRIUMPHS OF ADVANCING YEARS. 

Reverses — Losses not permitted to interrupt his joy — Be- 
reavements — A letter full of Christian hope — Graces tested — 
Patience having its perfect work 188 

CHAPTER XVIII. 

TRANSLATED. 

Failing faculties — A memorable Sabbath — The last prayer 
at the hospital — "One more day's work for Jesus" — "He 
was not, for God took him." 108 



Contents. 19 

CHAPTER XIX. 

TRIBUTES AND REMINISCENCES. 

Letters from Bishop Scott, Rev. J. M. Freeman, D.D., 
Rev. R. J. Carson— Tribute from Rev. E. H. Stokes, D.D.— 
He enters Union Church a stranger — Kneels at the altar — Is 
greeted by Mr. Yard — Describes his ways of working for souls 
— His sympathetic nature— Scene at a camp-meeting — The 
angel's visit Page 205 

CHAPTER XX. 
CLOSING WORDS. 

The affectionate, helpful brother— The inspiration of his 
example and success in soul-winning— Sympathy and counsel 
in later years— The last visit— Poem, "Transferred to the 
Brighter World" — The Source of his power accessible 
to all 



THE 

S O UL-WIN NEK 



CHAPTER I. 

BOYHOOD. 



T^DMUND JONES YARD was born in 
-*-— ' Trenton, New Jersey, January 19, 1792. 
His parents were Benjamin and Priscilla Yard. 
He was the second of ten children. His fa- 
ther, though not known to be an experimental 
Christian, was esteemed as an upright and con- 
scientious man, and was by birthright a mem- 
ber of the " Society of Friends," or " Quak- 
ers," his parents having been connected with 
them. 

Edmund's mother had become an earnest 
Christian previous to his birth, and careful- 
ly trained her children in the knowledge 
of God. 



22 The Soul-Winner. 

Edmund was, from early childhood, serious 
and thoughtful. He daily repeated the Lord's 
Prayer, with solemnity and reverence, and 
often thought deeply of eternal things. His 
outward life, according to his mother's account, 
was most remarkable. His affectionate treat- 
ment of the members of his own family, and 
his kind and amiable manner toward all, were 
such as to attract attention and call forth re- 
mark. 

To his mother, especially, he was a treas- 
ure — gladly relieving her of care and help- 
ing her in all her household labors. Often 
when finding her weary from a day's toil, he 
would insist upon her retiring early, saying, 
" I will take care of the baby." Then, with 
his foot upon the cradle-rocker and his hands 
busily sewing, he would keep the little one 
from its tired mother, thus affording her hours 
of refreshing sleep. Sometimes it would be 
midnight before the baby's waking would be 
the signal for him to commit it to its mother's 
arms. Then, retiring to his bed, he felt su- 



Boyhood. 23 

premely happy in the thought that he could 
thus share the burdens of one to whom he 
owed so much. The eight children, younger 
than himself, afforded him many " privileges," 
as he called them, of helping his dear mother, 
and of smoothing her rough pathway. 

His mother's own statement was, " Edmund 
was always good, from his birth, and never 
needed correction, nor even reproof." 

Notwithstanding his pure and admirable 
life, he had keen convictions of inward deprav* 
ity. By the illumination of the divine Spirit 
the native corruption of his heart was revealed, 
and he knew it must be changed by the power 
of God or he could not be saved. His inabil- 
ity to live up to his own .standard of right 
deeply pained him, and he would say, " Ah, it 
is sinning and repenting, sinning and repent- 
ing over and over." While others were prais- 
ing him, his own deep consciousness of guilt 
in God's sight made him dissatisfied, and often 
unhappy. The language of Paul, Rom. vii, 24, 
was scarcely too strong to be applied to him- 



24 The Soul-Winner. 

self by this young man whose life was so ex- 
ceptionally beautiful in the eyes of those 
around him : " O wretched man that I am ! 
who shall deliver me from the body of this 
death?" 



, 



Won by the Word. 25 



CHAPTER II. 

WON BY THE WORD. 

TN the year 1808 Edmund J. Yard com- 
■*■ menced reading the word of God with ref- 
ence to the salvation of his soul. He had read 
the Bible as a school book, and was familiar 
with its sacred truths, but at that time his 
mind was drawn by the Holy Spirit, without 
any other influence, to read it, that he might 
learn the way of salvation. By this reading he 
was made increasingly sensible of his sinful- 
ness before God, and was enabled to see clear- 
ly the way of salvation in Christ. 

With sincere repentance and great earnest- 
ness, he sought pardon and peace, and it was 
not long before he felt the power of saving 
grace and was consciously born of God. t 

The work was very gradual. There was no 
distinct period to which he could subsequent- 
ly refer as the hour or the day when the great 



26 The Soul-Winner. 

work was effected, for it was as the dawning of 
the day, so gently breaking upon the darkness 
of his soul, that he could not tell just when the 
night had departed. But he knew that the 
darkness was gone, and felt that his soul was 
now " light in the Lord ;" for " the Sun of 
righteousness" had arisen upon him " with 
healing in his wings." 

Then began his delight in the worship and 
service of the Lord. He attended different 
churches as often as opportunity offered, and 
became greatly interested in every thing per- 
taining to the cause of Him whom he now de- 
lighted to serve; 'Moving" all Christians of 
whatever evangelical sect "with a pure heart 
fervently." 

The most enlarged charity was a distin- 
guishing trait that marked not only his early 
Christian life, but his whole character. Some 
of his most cherished friends and associations 
were among those not of his own denomina- 
tion. From the hour of his espousals to God 
communion with saints, next to that with 



Won by the Word. 27 

Him who is ''chief among ten thousand and 
altogether lovely," was the joy of his life. 

During the early part of his religious life 
the society of many devout Christians — minis- 
ters and others, who visited the home of his 
parents — afforded him great spiritual aid, as 
well as unspeakable delight. From their lips 
he would catch with eagerness the precious 
words of gospel experience and teaching. 

His mother's heart rejoiced as she found her 
son evincing so deep an interest in spiritual 
things, and thinking it would be conducive to 
his religious advancement, she gave him a room 
to himself, where he spent much time alone in 
reading, meditation, and prayer. 

The first time he attended a Methodist 
meeting he felt it his duty to kneel during 
prayer, but had a seve-re conflict in his mind, 
thinking that such a step would at once sever 
his connection with all his associates. At that 
time there was not, so far as he knew, one 
young person in the city of his residence who 
made a profession of religion, and Methodists 



28 The Soul-Winner. 

were looked upon with contempt and treated 
with derision. To kneel in one of their meet- 
ings would be to commit himself fully on the 
Lord's side, and would indicate his coming out 
from the world. Besides, it would subject him 
to great scorn and persecution. But after 
having counted the cost, he resolved to do 
what God required, though it might involve 
the loss of every human friend. Kneeling, at 
once he began to reckon himself among the 
followers of Jesus. 

Anticipating speedy assaults of persecution, 
he sought to be equipped for the onset, and 
became " strengthened with might by the 
Spirit in the inner man." 

The first attack occurred on the following 
day. One of his friends said : 

" So, Edmund, the Methodists have got you, 
have they?" 

He replied, " No, the Methodists haven't 
got me, but I have resolved to serve God." 

The young man ridiculed him, and tried to 
persuade him to give up his religion. He re- 



Won by the Word. 29 

plied, " You may say and do what you please, 
but you can't move me. I am determined to 
be a Christian and go to heaven." 

At that time Edmund had commenced 
learning a trade, and his shopmates tried every 
possible means and device to allure or drive 
him from the path of piety. One day a young 
man said to him, 

11 I heard a good Methodist lady say that 
4 Edmund Yard's fiery edge would soon wear 
off.' " 

This affected him seriously, coming from one 
whom he had regarded as a Christian, and he 
felt sad. 

The young man added, " You wont hold out 
long, you'll soon give it up." 

Edmund, lifting his heart to God, felt 
strengthened, and replied, " Well, they that 
live longest will know most," and turned away 
from his comrade with a smile. 

Soon after Edmund had committed himself 
by kneeling in church, he again attended a 
Methodist meeting, and heard Rev. Jacob 



30 The Soul Winner. 

Hevener, then on Trenton Circuit, preach. 
After the close of the sermon an invitation was 
given to join the Church. Edmund at once 
resolved to unite himself with that people, and, 
never having seen any one join a Church, he 
asked an old member who sat beside him what 
he should do to connect himself with the 
Church. " Father Kotts" replied, " Why, just 
go forward and stand at the altar." He did 
so, and the minister took his name and as- 
signed him to a class. 

Although in the ardor of his first love all 
Christian Churches seemed alike to him, and 
he continued to love all, yet, when he came to 
understand the usages and privileges of the 
Church of his choice, he saw that God's hand 
had led him there; for the peculiar helps of 
the Methodist Church, as he frequently said, 
were just what he specially needed. The 
class-meetings, the band-meetings, the love- 
feasts, and prayer-meetings proved so strength- 
ening to his Christian graces that he believed 
Methodism was just adapted to him and he to 



Won by the Word. 31 

it; so he was always glad he had found a 
home in a Church that was warm in religious 
fervor, and which set forth a high standard 
of experience as the Christian's duty and priv- 
ilege. 

The low estimation in which the Methodist 
Episcopal Church was at that period held, and 
the contumely and persecution then endured 
by its adherents every-where, furnished a se- 
vere test to a young man of elevated ideas, 
great ambition, and native pride of character. 
Yet, so clear were his convictions that God 
was pleased with his decision, that he soon 
rose superior to the frowns and smiles of the 
world, and exulted in a consciousness that he 
was among the children of the great King, and 
an heir to the kingdom which shall endure 
when earthly distinctions shall be forgotten. 

In the midst of his ecstatic joy, at a meet- 
ing one evening he observed some young men 
laughing and making sport of the exer- 
cises and the devout worshipers. When an 
opportunity offered he stepped upon a seat 



32 The Soul-Winner. 

and repeated this stanza of one of our Wes- 
leyan hymns : 

" On all the mighty kings of earth, 

With pity I look down, 
And claim, in virtue of my birth, 

A never-fading crown ! " 

He then spoke to them in words so exult- 
ant and so impressive, that the game-makers 
were awed into seriousness, and there was no 
more trifling that evening. Indeed, some were 
so moved upon by the Spirit of God that they 
were soon found among the humble seekers of 
salvation. 

Not long after Edmund had identified him- 
self with "the sect every-where spoken against," 
he was told that a lady friend of his mother 
had made the remark that she pitied Mrs. 
Yard because her son Edmund had disgraced 
her and her family by becoming connected 
with the Methodists. The same lady was in- 
formed by one of his shopmates that they had 
tried their best to make the young Methodist 
angry, but could not succeed ; nothing they 



Won by the Word. 33 

could say or do would move him. The lady 
said, "There is a way to make him angry, and 
if you will try that you will be sure to gain 
your point." Alluding to a woman called "a 
sanctified Methodist," she said it was consid- 
ered by some impossible to make her angry, 
but a man said he knew how to make her 
mad. So, one day, when she came to the 
house where he lived, as she stepped upon the 
porch he threw the contents of the basin 
in which he had washed his hands into 
her face, and she was very angry. " Now," 
said the lady, "you try that. Wash your 
hands or feet and then throw the dirty water 
into Edmund's face, and see if that don't do 
it." One of the boys concluded to try it, but 
first told Edmund the story, as related by the 
lady, adding, " I am going to try it with you ;" 
but, finding him unmoved by the threat, con- 
cluded it was not worth while to make the ex- 
periment. The boys, however, did try another 
plan to tease and disturb him. They under- 
took to compel him to drink rum, designing 
3 



34 The Soul-Winner. 

to make him drunk. Two of them held him, 
and the third attempted to pour it into his 
mouth, but, raising his foot, he pushed his 
tormentor away. 

"Who shall contend with God? or who can 
hurt whom God delights to save ? " 

After many experiments Edmund's asso- 
ciates came to the conclusion that he was be- 
yond their power to move, and they might as 
well let him alone. They were convinced, 
also, of his unwavering fidelity and consistency 
of conduct, and of the reality of the religion 
he professed. Consequently their confidence 
in him increased daily, while growing respect 
caused them to treat him with kindness. 



First Trophies. 35 



T 



CHAPTER III. 

FIRST TROPHIES. 
HE young soldier was not content with 



having conquered a truce with his asso- 
ciates. He longed to have them enlisted with 
him in the service of his new Captain. Some 
of them were made the subjects of special 
prayer. Influenced by his evident interest in 
the evening meetings, one and another would 
attend those gatherings of humble worshipers. 
Usually a new-comer would take the back seat. 
But interest was sure to be awakened, and 
each evening would find the young man one 
seat in advance of that previously occupied. 
Edmund's prayers were unceasing, and he 
eagerly watched for tokens of answer. About 
midway up the aisle was a seat which, in his 
eye, marked the line between ordinary interest 
and the state of mind which rendered it ad- 
visable for a personal appeal to be made. One 



36 The Soul-Winner. 

who had occupied that seat, as he passed out 
the door, would find an arm kindly thrown 
around him, with an invitation to take a walk 
in a retired street near by. 

Then Edmund would take the opportunity 
to earnestly press his friend to yield to God's 
claims. Not in a single case was such an 
effort unsuccessful. 

Sometimes the walk and the conversation 
would be continued till a late hour of the 
night ; but before they would separate the 
young man would promise to give his heart to 
Christ. In this way a large number were won 
for Jesus. It was said, " When Edmund Yard 
gets his arm around a young man he is sure 
to come." 

One evening he fixed his eyes upon one of 
the proudest and gayest young men in the 
city, who was not accustomed to attend Meth- 
odist meetings, but had been drawn there by 
curiosity on that occasion. All the time dur- 
ing service Edmund was praying, " Lord, help 
me to win that soul for thee ! " He observed 



First Trophies. 37 

a seriousness in the young man's face, and 
thought the good Spirit was working in his 
heart. In this case he did not wait for further 
indications, but, as soon as the meeting had 
closed, hastened to his young friend, overtook 
him, and drawing him around to the favorite 
walk in which so many had found the way of 
life, began to recommend the service of Christ 
to him. The young man was fond of the 
world's pleasures and vanities, and having been 
previously invited to attend a ball on an even- 
ing of the ensuing week, did not feel quite 
ready to start for heaven. Edmund pleaded 
with him till his heart yielded, and he promised 
to attend the prayer-meeting instead of the ball, 
both being on the same evening. When the 
time arrived the temptation to participate in 
the gay entertainment was so strong that he 
was about to yield, when Edmund entered his 
room, and renewed his request for him to ac- 
company him to the place of prayer. Had he 
not gone again in pursuit of him that precious 
soul, instead of being within reach of saving 



38 The Soul-Winner. 

power on that evening, would have been on 
Satan's premises, and might have been led 
back into captivity. But the faithful Chris- 
tian victor bore away the trophy won for 
Jesus, and there was "joy that night in the 
presence of the angels of God over that sinner 
who repented " and was born into the king- 
dom before the meeting had closed. 

What a conquest for Christ ! That young 
man — dressed for a scene of worldly amuse- 
ment and revelry — found in a prayer-meeting, 
a humble penitent, seeking salvation ! In the 
house of a colored family the proud votary of 
fashion bowed in contrition at the mercy-seat 
and found pardoning grace ! The young man 
thus won was James Rogers, who afterward 
resided in Burlington County, N. J., and filled 
various positions of honor and trust. He be- 
came and remained a pillar in the Church of 
God during his long and useful life, which he 
closed in gospel triumph in Trenton, the city of 
his natural and spiritual birth. Many times 
has it been the writer's privilege to listen to 



First Trophies. 39 

his joyous utterances as a class-leader and con- 
ductor of social religious meetings. He was a 
man of sterling piety and true nobility of soul, 
remarkable for his large benevolence, and great- 
ly respected and beloved in the Church and 
community where he resided. He was the 
father of Rev. William R. Rogers, deceased, 
of the New Jersey Conference, and the excel- 
lent Mrs. Dr. Harlow, of Philadelphia, and 
grandfather of Rev. James Rogers and Rev. 
William Rogers, both now in the ministry of 
the Methodist Episcopal Church. 

In a few months after Edmund's conversion 
the band of young men in that Church num- 
bered thirty, all won for Jesus by that young 
Christian, who had himself started alone in the 
way of life. As stated before, when he went 
forward to give his name to the Church, he 
did not know that there was a young person 
of like mind in the city, but he had the glad 
surprise to find two young men standing by 
his side at the altar, whose hearts had been 
touched by his example, having been previous- 



40 The Soul-Winner. 

\y awakened. They followed him as he went 
forward to be enrolled among the followers of 
the Lamb. Those young men were John Lan- 
sing and Charles Beatty. Another, who was 
an associate of Edmund, and was moved by 
his example to become a Christian, and who 
not long after joined the Church, was Samuel 
J. Cox, who afterward became a minister and 
spent his life in doing good. For a number 
of years he was an acceptable minister of the 
Philadelphia Conference, and later of the New 
Jersey Conference. Subsequently he removed 
to Zanesville, Ohio, and died there a beloved 
veteran in the service of God. In Mr. Cox 
Edmund found a congenial friend and helper 
in the cause of Christ, and as brothers they 
walked together in the paths of usefulness, 
sweetly united in strongest bonds. 

Richard J. Bond, John C. Bellerjeau, and 
Charles Sutterly, were all of the number led to 
Christ by Edmund, and all those young men 
named became official members of the Church 
in Trenton. One after another they have all 



First Trophies. 41 

passed to their heavenly home. One of the 
last two surviving their spiritual father was 
Charles Sutterly, who departed to his rest sev- 
eral years ago at eighty-five years of age. 

The other, John Downey, lived to be the 
oldest member of all the seven Methodist 
Churches which during his life had arisen in 
the city of Trenton. 

When Edmund J. Yard joined the Church, 
in 1 8 19, one little wooden building, built in 
Bishop Asbury's early ministry, with boards 
for seats, was the only Methodist edifice in 
Trenton. Many years after this was succeed- 
ed by a brick house — small in dimensions but 
neat in structure. The second was named 
a Bethesda," and though the glory of the lat- 
ter house was greater than that of the former, 
the recollections of the first were always cher- 
ished by the subject of this sketch with emo- 
tions of joy, as a hallowed place, where the 
divine presence and power were gloriously 
revealed. 

Several months after his conversion Edmund 



42 The Soul-Winner. 

was invited by a local preacher to attend a 
meeting at Lamberton, a small village adja- 
cent to Trenton. He had not thought of 
speaking at the meeting, but after the sermon 
the Holy Spirit so strongly prompted him that 
he felt, as he afterward said, that he " must 
do it or die." The cross was so great that it 
seemed to him impossible to utter a word, but 
impelled by the mighty influence resting upon 
him, he tremblingly arose, just as the preacher 
had taken the hymn book to give out the 
closing hymn. He spake as the Spirit gave 
him utterance, addressing the unconverted. 
He felt that the message came from God, and 
that he was only the organ through which it 
was spoken. He believed that the word had 
gone to some hearts, yet he saw no results at 
the time. Many years after, when visiting 
Lamberton to attend a meeting, a lady asked 
him, " Do you remember speaking at a meet- 
ing in this neighborhood thirty-three years 
ago ? " 

He replied, " Yes, I recollect it distinctly." 



First Trophies. 43 

She said, " My brother and two other young 
men went to that meeting, resolved that they 
would break it up, and that there should be no 
more meetings of that kind in Lamberton. 
After their return home they were asked, 
'Did you break up the meeting?' One of 
them replied, ' No, there was a boy preaching 
and we couldn't do any thing.' ' The arrows 
of the Almighty did execution that evening, 
and souls were afterward saved, as the result 
of the boy's preaching! 



44 The Soul-Winner. 



CHAPTER IV. 

LIGHT ON THE PATHWAY. 

A MONG the little persecuted flock who 
■**• formed the first " Society " of Method- 
ists in Trenton there were many precious ones, 
of whom Edmund often spoke as his friends, 
faithful and beloved. They counseled and 
encouraged him in his youth, and, leading him 
into paths of usefulness, greatly helped him in 
the Christian life. Among those nursing fa- 
thers and mothers were Rev. Gideon Mosely 
and wife, Daniel M'Curdy and wife, Mrs. Grace 
Dorey, and Rev. Mr. Dunn and wife. Mrs. 
Mosely and Mrs. Dorey took special interest 
in his spiritual welfare. 

A severe attack of sickness once brought 
him very near death, and as he found himself 
unwilling to die just then, he prayed for "dy- 
ing grace." Not receiving consciously an an- 
swer to his prayer, he felt distressed, and be- 



Light on the Pathway. 45 

gan to question the safety of his spiritual con- 
dition, and so continued to do till after his 
restoration to health. In this depressed state 
of mind he visited his good friend, Mrs. Mose- 
ly, and stated to her his trouble, saying, " I 
fear I am not right, for when I was ill and 
thought myself near death I had not dying 
grace." 

11 Well," said his friend, " Edmund, you 
didn't die, did you ? " 

He answered, " No, I didn't die." 

" Well, then, you didn't need dying grace, 
because the Lord didn't want you to die at 
that time. While you live you need living 
grace, and when your time shall come to die 
then he will give you dying grace. So don't 
trouble yourself any more about that; only 
serve God faithfully, and he will be sure to 
give you the grace you need for the hour of 
death when it comes." 

These suggestions removed the difficulty, 
and the young Christian went on his way re- 
joicing. Often during his long life he alluded 



46 The Soul-Winner. 

to the quaint remarks and good counsel of 
Mrs. Mosely and the victory they helped him 
to gain. 

At the age of eighteen, having been a mem- 
ber of the Church one year, he was appointed 
leader of a class by Rev. Mr. Dunn, who was 
then a local preacher, in charge of a small so- 
ciety at Morrisville, Pa., across the Delaware 
River from Trenton. Soon afterward his pas- 
tor made him leader of a class in his own 
Church. This office he held until his removal 
to Philadelphia, some years later. 

In the summer of 1811 he attended a camp- 
meeting near Allentown, N. J., which had an 
important influence upon his subsequent life 
and experience. He went with a company of 
twenty young men. They were provided with 
every thing necessary in the way of eatables 
already cooked, intending, as they said, to 
"keep bachelor's hall." Edmund was to pre- 
pare the meals, etc. He accordingly provided 
breakfast and supper every day, but in regard 
to dinner, he told them that each one must go 



Light on the Pathway. 47 

to the provision chest and help himself, for he 
could not be interrupted in the middle of the 
day in his religious engagements. Camp- 
meetings in those days kept up continuous ef- 
forts in the work of salvation, not suspending 
service at the close of the morning preaching 
service, as is the present custom, but entering 
into earnest " altar work," and continuing it 
till the hour of afternoon public worship. 
Nearly all the laborers in the noon meetings 
would take a brief respite for refreshment, each 
in his turn, but Edmund seldom allowed him- 
self this indulgence. In the intensity of his 
zeal he would labor on till the afternoon 
preaching service, and at its close resume his 
work in the prayer-meeting till evening, for- 
getting the demands of the body, so absorbed 
was he in the glorious work of SOUL-WINNING. 
Such earnest and incessant labors at camp- 
meetings he continued for many years, until 
the infirmities of age deprived him of the phys- 
ical strength needed to support them. 

During the camp-meeting alluded to, there 



48 The Soul-Winner. 

came two young men — Rev. Samuel Snead 
and Mr. Whitehead — having been directed to 
the Trenton " young men's tent." They were 
received and made welcome. These visitors 
proved greatly helpful to the youthful band, 
for they were filled with the Holy Spirit. Ed- 
mund said they seemed like angels, sent to 
minister to them. Soon after their arrival 
Mr. Snead asked the young men if they had 
received the blessing of entire sanctification 
or perfect love? They replied that they 
did not know what that meant. They had 
never heard it preached or set forth distinctly 
as the believer's privilege. He then explained 
it to them and told them it was not only 
their privilege, but it was a divine requirement 
explicitly set forth and enforced in the word 
of God. Several of them became exceed- 
ingly interested, and commenced at once an 
earnest seeking of " the great blessing," as it 
was called. Among the most fervent seekers 
was young Edmund. His heart became all 
engrossed with the glorious object set before 



Light on the Pathway. 49 

him in the Gospel of Christ, and all the pow- 
ers of his being were on full stretch for its pos- 
session. The increasing cry of his soul was 
that the apostle's prayer might be answered in 
his experience : " And the very God of peace 
sanctify you wholly ; and I pray God your 
whole spirit and soul and body be preserved 
blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus 
Christ." He could not doubt that this great 
work might be accomplished in his case, be- 
cause the apostle had added, " Faithful is he 
that calleth you, who also will do it." 1 Thess. 
v, 24. It became the theme of his conversation 
and the burden of all his prayers, as the grand 
prize to which all the aspirations of his soul 
and all the energies of his being were directed. 

He went home, however, without the full 
realization of his desire, but continued to seek 
with unwearying earnestness for the full ac- 
complishment of the divine work in his heart. 

On his return to Trenton he hastened to his 

faithful friends, Mr. and Mrs. Mosely and Mrs. 

Dorey, to tell them of the new doctrine, and 
4 



50 The Soul-Winner. 

to inquire what they knew about it, for surely, 
he thought, they must have experienced it. 
Greatly to his surprise, they said that they had 
never experimentally known, though they un- 
derstood and believed, the doctrine of full sal- 
vation, as taught by Mr. Wesley and by the 
inspired word. They were much interested 
and moved by Edmund's earnest expressions 
of desire to be made pure in heart and sancti- 
fied wholly, and acknowledged the great im- 
portance of entire consecration to God and the 
full baptism of the Holy Ghost, so that Jesus 
might be represented in his followers by a life 
entirely conformed to his will. Mr. Mosely 
spoke of it as essential to the full success of 
the Gospel ministry that the Church should 
be " holy and unblamable," and proposed 
at once having a meeting for this specific ob- 
ject. An invitation was given to all who be- 
lieved in the doctrine of full salvation in Christ, 
and all who would seek for it, to meet for that 
purpose at his house on " Mill Hill," now 
Broad Street, Trenton. Half a dozen young 



Light on the Pathway. 51 

men and a few of the old members attended, 
and God owned the first meeting by the reve- 
lation of his presence in their midst. It was a 
time of great power and wondrous blessing to 
the little company assembled, and they were 
encouraged to continue the meetings. 

But soon opposition arose. The faithful 
band who had set themselves apart for God 
were regarded by many in the Church as 
fanatics. In speaking of them some would 
call them " the holy ones," by way of derision, 
and say, " We don't belong to the sanctified 
band, and so we are not wanted at their meet- 
ings." But the devoted ones kept on their 
way, treating with great kindness those who 
opposed them, and the Lord prospered them 
greatly ; the meetings increased in divine 
power as well as in numbers. Some who had 
stood aloof and found fault were overcome by 
the spirit of meekness and love which was 
shown them in return, and won over to the 
little flock that met weekly to help each other 
in " the way of holiness." In many cases the 



52 The Soul-Winner. 

inspired words were fulfilled, "When a man's 
ways please the Lord, he maketh even his 
enemies to be at peace with him." 

At each succeeding meeting, as Edmund 
continued seeking in agonizing prayer the 
fuller baptism of the Holy Spirit, it seemed to 
him to be coming upon him, and yet, strange 
to say, meeting after meeting would come and 
close without the fulfillment of his longing de- 
sire ! W T as it not that he sought it more by 
wrestling and struggling than by faith? by 
works, which never can succeed, instead of just 
simply taking Jesus at his word, and accepting 
the proffered gift ? All this time he was so 
sincere, so devout and earnest, willing to make 
any sacrifice, fasting and praying, doing, do- 
ing all the time, but not believing. 



New Power. 53 



CHAPTER V. 

NEW POWER. 

T N the following spring Edmund visited 
Philadelphia, where the Annual Conference 
was then in session. Having an exalted idea 
of the spirituality of ministers, he thought 
that was the place, of . all others, to look for 
the divine presence, and there, among those 
men of God, he should surely receive the 
sanctifying power. He was invited to the 
house of a dear friend, where several ministers 
and other Christian people were being enter- 
tained, and he well might expect that there 
his hungry soul would be richly fed. But he 
was sadly disappointed ; he received no spir- 
itual benefit or aid there ; nor did he find any 
special advantage from attending the religious 
services of the Conference. But there was in 
reserve for him a hallowed feast, for which he 
was not looking, in the house of one of Christ's 



54 The Soul-Winner. 

humble followers. A devoted Christian lady, 
Mrs. Dickinson, kindly invited the young 
stranger-brother to take tea at her house with 
Rev. Joseph Lybrand, then a local preacher, 
only eighteen years of age, but eminently spir- 
itual ; also his aunt, Mrs. Carson, Mrs. Price, 
and Miss Patience Littell — a choice com- 
pany of precious saints — all " filled with the 
Spirit." 

After tea the table was set aside, and the 
group of kindred spirits immediately entered 
into a prayer-meeting. Joseph Lybrand of- 
fered the opening prayer. Such a prayer Ed- 
mund had never listened to — a prayer so full 
of holy unction and divine power. The bless- 
ing, rich and full, came down upon the waiting 
company. The room seemed filled with the 
glory of God, and every heart with celestial 
love. The devout soul which for months had 
been panting after God, ;< as the hart panteth 
after the water brooks," now received a full- 
ness of love and peace never known before ; 
yet he had not the clear witness that the work 



New Power. 55 

of cleansing was fully wrought, and while he 
exulted in the consciousness that he was all 
the Lord's, yet he believed there was still a 
deeper work to be effected, and still he con- 
tinued looking and praying for 

" The clear indubitable seal 

That ascertains the kingdom mine." 

The saintly Lybrand, full of the sweetness 
of '• perfect love," explained to him the simple 
way of faith, and greatly strengthened and 
helped him. His heart — already in the mold 
of love — received the divine impress, and he 
rejoiced in God with exceeding joy, yet went 
home expecting a brighter evidence and a 
fuller baptism of power. 

From that hour his heart was bound to Jo- 
seph Lybrand, and they were bosom friends. 
Their communion was frequent and delightful 
to both. The ministerial career of Lybrand 
fully equalled its bright promise so early given, 
and was marked by wonderful spirituality and 
success through his entire life. 



56 The Soul-Winner. 

From the interview above alluded to Ed- 
mund went to his own room, and while kneel- 
ing at his bedside received the bright, incon- 
testable evidence of heart purity. Now the 
glorious words of inspiration were fulfilled, 
" He satisfieth the longing soul, and filleth the 
hungry soul with goodness." His peace was 
truly " as a river," and often did his heart so 
overflow with holy joy that he spoke exult- 
antly of the wonderful manifestations of divine 
love and his triumph in Christ as far exceed- 
ing all his former experience. That experi- 
ence from the time of his conversion had been 
clear, decided, and steady, with the brief in- 
terruption occasioned by the temptation al- 
luded to in reference to a readiness to die 
during his illness. So unwavering had been 
his Christian course, so consistent his life, and 
so devout his spirit that he certainly evinced 
a thorough conversion to God, and there was 
no backsliding in his case. Therefore "the 
great blessing," as he termed it, was, in his 
estimation, a distinct work from that of justi- 



New Power. 57 

fication : that which is designated by Wesley, 
Fletcher, Clarke, Watson, Benson, and other 
Methodist standard writers as " entire sancti- 
fication," or "perfect love;" and by President 
Edwards, Dr. Mahan, Dr. Finney, Rev. James 
Brainerd Taylor, Dr. W. E. Boardman, and 
others of different denominations, as " full as- 
surance of faith," or "the higher Christian 
life." 

In after life, though he seldom spoke pub- 
licly of it with definiteness as his own experi- 
ence, he always regarded it as clearly distinct 
from regeneration or the new birth. His tes- 
timonies were marked by great modesty and 
humility. While he exalted Jesus and the 
power of his grace to " save unto the utter- 
most," and spoke of his rest in Christ, his daily 
communion with him, and the abounding com- 
forts of his love, it was not his habit to speak 
in terms sometimes used to designate the state 
of grace alluded to. He did not say, "At such 
a time I was wholly sanctified," or " made 
holy," or " For so many years I have lived 



58 The Soul-Winner. 

without sin." Such expressions he did not 
use ; but when questioned as to his own ex- 
perience on that subject he answered definite- 
ly, and in specific meetings for the promotion 
of holiness he spoke more explicitly. But on 
all occasions his testimonies and prayers were 
full of the sacred unction and hallowed influ- 
ence which could only come from the closest 
union with Christ, and an induement of divine 
power. 

" It was not necessary," a minister re- 
marked, " for Edmund Yard to say he w r as 
sanctified, for his words, his spirit, and his life 
attested the fact of his entire consecration to 
God, that his eye was single, and he was one 
in whom there was no guile." But it should 
be understood that, although he believed in a 
definite experience on this subject, he did not 
think a special baptism, called " the second 
blessing," was all that was necessary, as plac- 
ing its recipient in a position of perfect safety, 
beyond the power of temptation and sin. He 
always believed, and carefully taught his class 



New Power. 59 

members, that daily growth in grace was their 
duty and privilege ; that frequent self-exam- 
ination, constant watchfulness and prayer, 
with a diligent study of God's word, were es- 
sential to the Christian life, and that without 
strict attention to these duties backsliding 
would be inevitable ; that whatever heights 
or depths of experience in the divine life had 
been attained, a continuous application of 
the all-cleansing blood was needed, and con- 
stant communion with the Source of strength 
divine. 

Of his own personal sense of this need he 
veiy often spoke, and that he daily lived in 
communication with the Source of power was 
very evident. He often repeated the follow- 
ing stanza as experience : 

" Him to know is life and peaec, 

And pleasure without end ; 
This is all my happiness, 

On Jesus to depend." 

No one could possess a deeper feeling of 
entire dependence on God, and this, doubtless, 



60 The Soul-Winner. 

was the secret of his success in his great life 
work of soul saving. 

The term life-work seems appropriate in 
reference to his unceasing efforts to bring souls 
to Christ, for although his work in the Church 
as a leader of several classes, an exhorter, etc., 
was important as it was faithfully and suc- 
cessfully performed, yet the predominant pas- 
sion of his soul and his continual efforts — 
as will be seen in future pages — were to save 
sinners. 

To this work he devoted himself with un- 
tiring effort. For this the " divine anoint- 
ing " which he had received was his best 
preparation ; not on account of " the bless- 
ing" bestowed, so much as because it taught 
him the secret of power, to abide in Christ, 
and through faith to receive moment by mo- 
ment new supplies of life-giving energy from 
God himself. This secret was the key to 
the usefulness of the threescore years that 
followed. 

Reader, have you learned this secret ? 



New Power. 6i 

Mrs. Dickinson, the excellent woman at 
whose house Edmund had met Rev. Joseph 
Lybrand, became a warm friend, whose coun- 
sels and prayers proved of great value to him 
in after years. 



62 The Soul- Winner. 



CHAPTER VI. 

NEW OPPORTUNITIES AND EXPERIENCES. 

TT DM UND having found a business posi- 
— ' tion with a gentleman in Philadelphia, 
removed there to reside in the spring of 1813. 
Very soon he sought the abode of his de- 
voted Christian friend where he had received 
the gracious baptism before alluded to. That 
house seemed a sacred place to him. The 
hallowed associations of the hour when he 
was brought into closer union with Jesus had 
been cherished most fondly in grateful remem- 
brance. Frequent gatherings of choice spirits 
made it a place of delightful resort, and there 
the young disciple found the sweetest Chris- 
tian communion. Renewed strength and 
cheer in his heavenward course were always 
the results of his visits to that house, where 
Jesus met and blessed his devoted followers. 
There were four who might be termed " elect 



New Opportunities. 63 

ladies," whose names should be preserved in 
the Church. Of them it might have been 
truly said, " They follow the Lamb whitherso- 
ever he goeth." They were Mrs. Dickinson, 
Mrs. Page, Mrs. Martindale, and Miss Patience 
Littell. Edmund often spoke of them as 
women " full of faith and of the Holy Ghost," 
and of the great spiritual help he had received 
from them in the early period of his religious 
life. 

He was one evening sent on an errand by 
his employer, and passing that loved abode, 
which he called " Bethel," stopped to see his 
good friend, Mrs. Dickinson. She strongly 
urged him to stay and attend a meeting to be 
held there at that time. It was not impera- 
tive for him to hasten his return, so he con- 
sented to remain, and enjoy at least a portion 
of the services. He took his seat near the 
door, so that he might slip out unobserved be- 
fore the close of the meeting. During the 
first prayer the divine power fell upon him and 
prostrated him upon the floor. For several 



64 The Soul-Winner. 

hours he was unconscious of all below. He 
said he had a vision of his Redeemer. He 
felt it to be a glorious reality that he had seen 
Jesus and had received a new baptism of love 
and power. Thus he was still more fully 
prepared for the work that was before him. 
He sought diligently for opportunities to 
do good, both to the bodies and the souls 
of men. 

It was during his first visit to Philadelphia, 
in 1812, that he was introduced into those 
fields of labor in which he was so successful 
in subsequent years. One of those devoted 
women whose names have been mentioned — ■ 
Mrs. Page — led him into paths of usefulness 
which he pursued during the whole of his fol- 
lowing life of sixty-three years. 

Mrs. Page's entire life was devoted to the 
poor and suffering outcasts, who by others 
were uncared for. As a ministering angel she 
visited almshouses, prisons, hospitals, and the 
slums of iniquity, ever seeking to save poor 
victims of sorrow and sin. Gladly did Edmund 



New Opportunities. 65 

accept her invitation to accompany her in her 
walks of usefulness, and although to him this 
was a new field of labor, it was one that 
strongly commended itself to his heart, and 
enlisted all the sympathies of his nature. 
Here, he thought, is work for a life-time, and 
he longed for the privilege of engaging in it as 
a permanent worker. Thus, when two years 
later, in the providence of God, he became a 
resident of the city, he said, " Surely God's 
hand is in this." " He hath set my feet in a 
large place." Greatly he rejoiced that he had 
found so wide a field of labor, and devoutly 
he thanked God for multiplied privileges of 
working for his blessed cause. 

A SIGNAL ANSWER TO PRAYER. 

Some time after Edmund had removed to 
Philadelphia, he received the sad tidings that 
his mother was at the point of death from a 
malignant disease, and was then in a state of 
unconsciousness. For many hours, remaining 
life could only be discerned by a slight moist- 



66 The Soul-Winner. 

ure upon a mirror placed near the lips of the 
sufferer. 

When the intelligence reached Edmund it 
was too late for him to procure a conveyance 
to his home in Trenton that day, and he was 
compelled to wait till the next morning. 
Knowing that a prayer-meeting was to be held 
at Mrs. Dickinson's house on that evening 
by some devout women, he went there and 
stated the condition of his mother, saying, 
" She can't be spared from her family of nine 
children ; wont you help me pray that her life 
may be saved ? " The good women said, " We 
will," and with great fervor and faith they 
pleaded that the dear mother might live. 
After several prayers had been offered, one of 
the sisters said to Edmund, " Your mother will 
not die ; the assurance is given me that she 
will recover." Looking at his watch he made 
a note of the moment when the remark was 
made. 

Early on the following day he went to his 
sick mother, full of hope that he should find 



New Opportunities. 6? 

her better. The joyful announcement met 
him at the door, "There is a decided improve- 
ment." 

"When did she begin to revive?" he asked. 

" Last evening at half-past eight," was the 
reply, which exactly corresponded with the 
time the assurance was given to the sister al- 
luded to. " Just at that minute," continued 
his informant, " your mother opened her eyes, 
and soon after spoke and received food. Now 
she is able to converse, and the disease has 
evidently left her entirely. It seems miracu- 
lous, for her physicians had given her up, say- 
ing she could not possibly live, and she was 
apparently dying all day yesterday." 

The mystery was explained by the devoted 
son. " The prayer of faith " had saved " the 
sick," and for over thirty years she lived to 
bless her family and the world. Then, at the 
age of eighty-one years, in the glorious tri- 
umphs of gospel faith, she departed to her 
heavenly home. 

Edmund was one of her greatest comforts 



68 The Soul-Winner. 

in her declining life. Often visiting and cheer- 
ing her amid the infirmities of age, and min- 
istering to her comfort in every way that the 
warmest affection could suggest. He was at 
her bedside when sickness was hurrying her to 
the grave, watching her in the last struggle, 
and witnessing her wonderful exultation when 
to her spirit-eyes the redeemed host became 
visible, and angels came to be her convoy to 
the home of the glorified. '• What a great com- 
pany ! " she exclaimed. "The company that 
John — " Her daughter, observing that she 
could not finish the sentence, said, " That great 
company that John saw, who have washed 
their robes and made them white in the blood 
of the Lamb ; do you see them, mother?" 

"Yes ! " she replied. Then, still looking up- 
ward, she said, " Mother, Sister Rebecca, I'm 
coming ! yes, I'm coming ! " and quickly joined 
those kindred spirits who had years before de- 
parted to the land of the blest. 



In the School of Adversity. 69 



CHAPTER VII. 

TAUGHT IN THE SCHOOL OF ADVERSITY. 

\T OT many months after his removal to 
-** ^ Philadelphia, Edmund J. Yard was unit- 
ed in marriage to Miss Jane M'Curdy, an 
estimable young lady, of good family, and a 
member of his own Church. Happy in their 
new relation, there seemed every promise of a 
life of more than ordinary brightness and joy. 
Indeed, so far as mutual affection could make 
an earthly paradise, such was his home. Sure- 
ly there was never a more devoted husband. 
Yet even over this delightful Christian home 
clouds and storms ere long began to gather. 

A few years after his marriage he was 
offered an interest in a mercantile establish- 
ment which was apparently doing a successful 
business. 

He had been desiring a change of employ- 
ment, and as it had been his habit to seek 



jo The Soul-Winner. 

divine direction in regard to all temporal as 
well as spiritual matters, he had prayed for 
such an opening as this seemed to be, and 
believing the arrangement providential, en- 
tered into the partnership. Soon he discov- 
ered that many of the goods had been pur- 
chased during the war of 1812, at high prices. 
A great reaction followed, the stock rapidly 
depreciated in value, and the firm became 
bankrupt, making an assignment for the bene- 
fit of the creditors. To one whose conscience 
was so sensitive as that of the subject of this 
memoir this was a severe trial, for the stock 
fell far short of meeting the demands upon 
the firm, and they could not pay the balances 
justly, if not legally, due. Though filled with 
anxiety and grief, Mr. Yard well knew where 
to look for succor and comfort, and repaired 
at once to Him who is " our refuge and 
strength, a very present help in trouble." 
He was comforted by the assurance that 
"All things work together for good to them 
that love God," and trusting that in some 



In the School of Adversity. 71 

way the Lord would provide, he was enabled 
to bear up under the heavy pressure, " casting 
all his care upon Him." 

In the time of his extremity, when he found 
himself without means to get bread for his 
family, he received a letter from his kind 
father inviting him to bring his wife and 
babe to his house in Trenton, offering them a 
home until he should find business that would 
offer a support for them. The proffer was 
gratefully accepted, and thus they were tem- 
porarily provided for. 

As the weeks passed by the young man 
made every effort in his power to find employ- 
ment, but without success. Months elapsed, 
, and to human view the prospect did not 
brighten in the least. Was it strange that 
" hope deferred " made " sick " even this brave 
young heart ? When he had been separated 
from his wife and child six months, and his 
way still seemed completely hedged up, he 
went one Sabbath evening to his accustomed 
place of worship, strongly tempted to discour- 



72 The Soul-Winner. 

agement and despair. After the opening ex- 
ercises the pastor spoke of an experience 
which he never had known before. Having 
made his usual preparation to preach, but 
having no manuscript, the text, the subject, 
and all that he had intended to say had gone 
from his mind. " But," said he, " another text 
has come to me, and upon these words I 
will speak. ' Who is among you that feareth 
the Lord, that obeyeth the voice of his serv- 
ant, that walketh in darkness, and hath no 
light? let him trust in the name of the Lord, 
and stay upon his God. " Isa. 1, 10. 

At the announcement of the text the dis- 
consolate spirit was instantly lifted up. He 
said in his heart, " This is a message from God 
to me. ' I will trust and not be afraid.' " The 
sermon, inspired by the Spirit divine, was full 
of holy encouragement to the bowed down 
and afflicted, and was truly a feast of fat 
things to the faithful one, who left the sacred 
place full of gladness, in the assurance that 
the God whose " eyes run to and fro through- 



In the School of Adversity. 73 

out the whole earth, to show himself strong in 
the behalf of them whose heart is perfect to- 
ward him," would interpose for his speedy 
deliverance. 

The next day, passing along the street, so 
jubilant in mighty faith that he scarcely real- 
ized he was walking among mortals, he was 
startled by the salutation of a friend : 

11 Edmund, I have been looking for you. 
I have found a good position in a business 
that will just suit you — collector of taxes. I 
will be your surety, and the position is se- 
cured for you." 

With unbounded joy and thankfulness he 
received it as from his loving Father's hand, 
and in a short time had the comfort of bring- 
ing back his family and providing for their 
sustenance. From that time he prospered in 
business, soon having properties placed in his 
care, as real estate agent, in addition to tax 
collecting. 

Although his creditors had no legal claim 
upon him, he had determined that every dol- 



74 The Soul-Winner. 

lar due them according to the highest rule of 
equity should be paid. As soon, therefore, as 
he could by strictest economy do so, he be- 
gan to lay aside something every month 
toward the payment of these claims. Busi- 
ness was increasingly prosperous, and it was 
not very long before he invited his creditors 
to dine with him, and as each guest took up 
his plate he found under it a check for the 
amount due him on the old account. At first 
all but one positively refused to accept the 
money, saying that the failure was through no 
fault of the debtor, and they had considered 
the matter settled. He, however, insisted, and 
they reluctantly accepted his offer, saying, " If 
you should ever be in need come to us and 
we will help you." 

That trial and the ultimate victory were 
among the incidents of his life which he al- 
ways recalled with deepest gratitude to God. 
Many times he related these circumstances, 
and the recital was in a number of cases made 
a special blessing to others in adversity. So, 



In the School of Adversity. 75 

that storm, though severe, was not of very 
long duration, and only tended to purify the 
atmosphere of this Christian home. 

For some time in that home all was again 
bright and joyous. But one day the death- 
angel came, and bore away a lovely bud of 
promise, the second child with whom God had 
blessed them, and whom they cherished as a 
very precious gift. Never was there a more 
loving father, and in this bereavement he suf- 
fered keenly, but with perfect acquiescence in 
the divine will, saying, " The Lord gave, and 
the Lord hath taken away ; blessed be the 
name of the Lord." Smiling through his tears, 
he closed the beautiful eyes of his darling boy, 
and said, " He is a cherub now among the glo- 
rified, and we must thank our God that we 
have a child in heaven." 

With tenderest and most loving ministra- 
tions he soothed and comforted the sor- 
rowing mother of the ascended babe, ex- 
horting her to join him in devout thanks- 
giving, that their little Robert was safe for- 



y6 The Soul-Winner. 

ever in the fold of the Good Shepherd 
above. 

Severe as were these trials of his early man- 
hood, it cannot be doubted that their influence 
was salutary in preparing him for his life-work. 
It was " in that he," our adorable Lord, " suf- 
fered, being tempted," that " he is able to 
succor them that are tempted," (tried,) and 
he rarely employs in active service those who 
have not been taught in the school of adversi- 
ty. The lessons thus learned were not only 
refining in their effect upon the subject of 
this memoir, but rendered him greatly useful 
to the afflicted, enabling him to " comfort 
them which " were " in any trouble, by the 
comfort wherewith " he himself was " com- 
forted of God." 

As we shall see, further on in this beautiful 
life, it was nearly all spent amidst chastening 
influences, and this doubtless had much to do 
with its attractiveness and its power over oth- 
ers for good. 



Self-sacrificing Labor. 77 



CHAPTER VIII. 

SELF-SACRIFICING LABOR. 

QOON after Edmund J. Yard went to reside 
in Philadelphia he found that there was 
demand for special labor in a settlement of 
colored people in the north-western part of 
the city. The typhus fever had broken out 
among them in the most terribly contagious 
form, sweeping them away into eternity in 
large numbers. In attempting to minister to 
those poor creatures he would imperil his 
own life; but he felt that God had called him 
to that field, and he must go. The filth and 
stench was so intolerable that he was near 
fainting away every time he entered the in- 
fected district. Nevertheless he w r ent day 
after day, and talked and prayed with the 
sick and dying, pointing them to the atoning 
Lamb, and many a redeemed spirit took its 
upward flight from those hovels of wretched- 



78 The Soul-Winner. 

ness to the Paradise above. On Sabbath 
mornings he would go and labor among those 
poor sufferers, instead of enjoying the privi- 
leges of the sanctuary, and in the afternoons 
he would visit the almshouse, hospital, and 
prisons, as time would allow. During the 
week he visited the sick in all parts of the 
city as he had opportunity. 

About the same time he became interested 
in the case of a man on the West Chester 
road five miles from the city, dying of con- 
sumption, whose sister had requested Mr. 
Yard to visit him. He went on the next Sab- 
bath, after his arduous labors among the col- 
ored people. When he had reached the place 
he almost fainted from exhaustion. The sick 
man and his mother both treated him coldly, 
and he felt that he was an unwelcome visitor. 
When he introduced the subject of religion 
the man was offended, and would not listen to 
affectionate entreaties to give his heart to 
Christ, and seek a fitness for heaven. He said 
he was not going to die, he should get well. 



Self-sacrificing Labor. 79 

In this his mother joined him. At length the 
weary visitor left the sick man without receiv- 
ing an invitation to come again. But on the 
following Sabbath he repeated his visit, per- 
sisting in his efforts to open the blinded eyes 
of the poor invalid to his perilous condition, 
but only to receive similar treatment. With 
a sad heart he again left him without any ap- 
parent results from his labors. His next 
walk to that house, a week later, was through 
a severe snow-storm : breasting the cold north- 
east wind and snow, he plodded his way, weary 
from previous labors. When he reached the 
house he was quite overcome with excessive 
fatigue. Still no kind word was spoken to 
cheer his heart, but, as before, only forbidding 
looks and hateful treatment. To the question, 
" May I pray for you ? " the reply was, in a 
gruff voice, " You may pray, if you choose." 
Prayer was offered, and the visitor took his 
leave, as on former visits, without one word of 
encouragement. On the fourth Sabbath he 
wended his way there again, still hoping to 



8o The Soul-Winner. 

win that soul for Jesus. As he entered the 
room the sick man's eyes filled with tears, and 
with extended hand he said, " O, Mr. Yard, 
how glad I am to see you ! I feel very differ- 
ent now from what I did when you were 
here before. After your last visit I thought 
a great deal about you and what you said to 
me, and said to myself, 'What can it be that 
makes that man walk five miles out here every 
Sunday to see me ? Leaving his own com- 
fortable fireside to breast the cold bleak winds 
and even storms, to visit one who treats him 
with scorn and contempt whenever he comes ! 
What can it mean ? It must be that he knows 
there is a reality in the teachings of the Bible, 
and that my soul is at stake ! It is to save my 
poor soul from eternal ruin that he makes these 
efforts and sacrifices.' Then my hard heart 
began to melt, and I began to love you for 
your great kindness to me ; and O how I have 
longed to see you, that I might ask your par- 
don, and beg you still to pray for me and not 
give me up." A melting time it was that day. 



Self-sacrificing Labor. 8i 

The mother, too, was subdued. In unison they 
prayed that the penitent sinner might be for- 
given and saved. The power of the Holy 
Spirit came down, faith was exercised, the 
cleansing blood was applied, and the contrite 
seeker was enabled to say, 

" My sins are washed away 
In the blood of the Lamb." 

" Was not that a glorious recompense for 
the toil, the ill treatment, and the sacrifice ? " 
asked the faithful one, turning to his sister 
with a smile, as he finished the recital of this 
incident. She replied, " Yes, indeed ! a grand 
recompense!" and thought of the blessed 
promise, " He that goeth forth and weepeth, 
bearing precious seed, shall doubtless come 
again with rejoicing, bringing his sheaves 
with him." " Doubtless ! " Let no faithful 
worker for Christ forget that word. No mat- 
ter how great may be the discouragements, 
the good seed cannot be sown in vain. Imag- 
ine the gladness of heart with which the soul- 
winner left the happy saved one, as he turned 
6 



82 The Soul-Winner. 

his feet homeward that day ! How lightly did 
he move as his buoyant spirit mounted up 
in grateful praise to God for the trophy he had 
won for Him who " came to seek and to save 
that which was lost ! " Those five miles, 
which had seemed so long after his former 
visits, must have seemed as less than one 
short mile on his return that happy day. 
" Let us not be weary in well doing: for in due 
season we shall reap, if we faint not." Gal. vi, 9. 
Among many signal answers to prayer in con- 
nection with the Christian work of this faithful 
laborer was the case of a young man supposed 
to be near death from consumption, in whom 
he became deeply interested. He found him 
very low, and without hope in Christ. His 
lungs had been sounded by skillful physicians, 
and his case pronounced by them utterly hope- 
less. They said that one lung was entirely 
gone, and the other nearly gone. He realized 
his condition, and became deeply concerned for 
his eternal safety. The instructions and the 
prayers of his devoted friend, whose visits 



Self-sacrificing Labor. 83 

were very frequent, were blessed of God to his 
conversion. One day when supplication was 
being offered, in which the penitent joined, 
salvation came, and shouts of " Glory to God, 
he has saved me ! " came from the lips of the 
newly liberated one. He had many times said 
that if his life were spared he would devote it 
all to God, but he did not expect to live, and 
said, "Now I am ready to live or die." His 
friend said, " I don't know but God will cure 
your body as well as your soul. He is able 
to do it, and if. he sees that you will live for 
him, I think he will heal you." Then an ear- 
nest prayer was offered that it might be so, if 
God would be glorified by his protracted life. 
The sick man joined in this prayer, although 
he felt perfectly willing to die if it were God's 
will. Immediate improvement was manifest in 
his physical condition ; he rapidly recovered, 
and was soon entirely well. He became a 
very active worker for Christ, and a most val- 
uable man in the Church and community. 
Mr. Yard's daily visits to the sick in all parts 



84 The Soul-Winner. 

of the city, from the Delaware to the Schuyl- 
kill, and from Kensington to the Navy Yard, 
might well be termed " self-sacrificing labors," 
for his health — always frail — was often over- 
taxed by his long and fatiguing walks * and 
the great excitement to which he was subject- 
ed. After hours of business, requiring all his 
physical strength, often on his way home or 
on his arrival there, a summons would meet 
him to go to some sick-room, and instead of 
taking his much-needed rest, he would hasten 
away on the errand of mercy. Even at night, 
when the hour for retiring had come, he would 
sometimes go to minister to the sick. But so 
rich was his compensation when he would see 
a soul brought from darkness to light that he 
said it paid him a thousand times over. Such 
cases were so frequent that he was kept in a 
state of joyous excitement nearly all the time. 
It is marvelous that he lived so many years 
under such a pressure. It would have seemed 

* At that time there were no street cars to relieve the weary 
pedestrian. 



Self-sacrificing Labor. 85 

impossible that an organization so fragile could 
endure such a perpetual strain for so many 
years. 

When visiting at my brother's house I have 
seen his face irradiated day after day with new 
cases of prayer answered in the salvation of 
souls. And when giving me the cheering re- 
cital he would often seem overcome with joy- 
ous emotion, and would say, " O, sister, it is 
such a glorious work to bring souls to Jesus, 
and to see them saved ! " While I appreciat- 
ed the estimate which he placed upon immortal 
souls, and greatly rejoiced with him in the 
success of his labors, I sometimes felt that he 
was doing much more than his physical 
strength was equal to, and sometimes ex- 
pressed solicitude in reference to his over- 
working. But he would smile and say, "Why, 
you know ' man is immortal till his work is 
done.' " 



86 The Soul-Winner. 



CHAPTER IX. 

IN THE CLASS-ROOM. 

r I "HE position of class-leader in the Meth- 
odist Episcopal Church is one of great 
importance. As a subpastor the leader is 
supposed to understand the spiritual condition 
and needs of those committed to his care, as 
the pastor of a large Church could not ; espe- 
cially in the limited time of service which is 
part of the Methodist system. To so minister 
to the varied wants of his little flock as to 
build them up in the faith is no small task. 
To be a successful class-leader requires special 
gifts and graces. 

It is not strange that while yet a boy Ed- 
mund J. Yard was called by the Church to this 
office. His deep Christian experience and 
good judgment might well have attracted the 
attention of those seeking one to fill such a 
position ; and then his warm, sympathetic nat- 



In the Class-room. 87 

ure, in addition to other qualifications, gave 
him a peculiar adaptation to the work. 

He had scarcely become settled in Philadel- 
phia before he was again called to be the leader 
of a class. As years passed a large number — ■ 
many of whom were his spiritual children — 
were by their own choice enrolled in his class. 
In this way the class became too large for the 
room and the hour. But none were willing to 
have another leader, and a part agreed to meet 
on another evening. So he became, by two 
such divisions, leader of three large classes in 
Union Church. 

When Bedford Street Mission became suc- 
cessful in saving many of the outcast popula- 
tion of that section of the city, and the rescued 
ones needed a leader, " Father Yard," as they 
called him, was prevailed upon to take the 
mission-class in addition ; after which he led 
four classes till nearly the close of his life. 

The testimony of one for many years a mem- 
ber of his class — Mr. David Loudenslager, will 
be in place here: 



88 The Soul-Winner. 

I shall never forget my first meeting in Father Yard's 
class. There were some fifty present, every one of whom 
testified for God, and he replied to each. The kind and 
genial manner in which he spoke — his words so well 
adapted to the varied experiences, rejoicing with the vic- 
torious, encouraging the despondent, strengthening the 
weak, and advising the young convert — gave such a zest 
to the exercises as made one feel that he was indeed in 
a heavenly place. 

On no subject was this class-leader so ear- 
nest and enthusiastic as in speaking of the 
word of God, and the duty of studying it with 
diligence. Upon the members of his classes he 
enforced this duty as a means of growth in 
grace and efficiency in working for Christ. 
Passages of Scripture were always upon his 
tongue, suited to every case, and weary ones 
were thus cheered each week by " a word in 
season " from their leader. 

How he became so. mighty in wielding the 
sword of the Spirit we may gather from a hint 
given us by his son, who writes : " Often I have 
found my father in his room, where he loved 
to be alone with God, with his Bible, sitting in 



In the Class-room. 89 

his favorite rocking-chair, in hallowed com- 
munion, his countenance beaming with heav- 
enly brightness." 

It was his daily habit to spend hours in 
meditation, reading, and prayer; and so ab- 
sorbed would he become in heavenly contem- 
plations as to be forgetful of worldly cares, 
until called to see some one desiring his pres- 
ence. Is it any wonder that he came from 
such consultations of the " oracles of truth," 
in the immediate presence of their divine 
Author, with impressive messages to those in- 
trusted to his care? " The Lord God hath 
given me the tongue of the learned, that I 
should know how to speak a word in season to 
him that is weary." Isa. 1, 4. 

To this habit of looking constantly to the 
Source of divine truth may chiefly be attribut- 
ed his success as a " nursing father," or class- 
leader in the Church. It was a rare thing for 
one of his class-members to backslide, and no 
wonder, for it was his constant effort to inspire 
them with love for the holy word, and he was 



90 The Soul- Winner. 

ever urging them to what he called the " all- 
important duty of searching the Scriptures." 
And who ever knew one who loved and studied 
the Bible to become cold-hearted and worldly- 
minded? 

Another feature of his class-leading was 
unique, and so important as to be worthy of 
particular mention. With a heart always bur- 
dened for individuals, he had a happy faculty 
of so reporting cases on his mind as to enlist 
the sympathy and awaken the prayerful inter- 
est of the members of the class. It was not a 
rare thing for him to call upon them to unite 
with him in prayer for a case of special inter- 
est. In other chapters allusions to answered 
prayer in such cases will be found. On one 
occasion in visiting a town in New Jersey he 
found a young man in feeble health, and al- 
most in despair about his soul. He said to the 
invalid, " To-night my class will meet, and we 
will pray for you. Get some of your friends to 
meet you here at the same hour, and we will 
unite our petitions in your behalf." While the 



In the Class-room. 91 

two praying bands thus sent up in unison their 
supplications, the cloud was lifted, and the lib- 
erated soul rejoiced in the favor of a sin-par- 
doning God. Soon after his conversion the 
young man died in peace. 

The following case is related by Rev. R. J. 
Carson as having occurred while he was pastor 
of Union Church : 

A member of one of Father Yard's classes spoke to me 
about visiting her brother, who was sick, a victim of con- 
sumption, and would probably die soon. I expressed my 
willingness to do so, when the sister told me of a diffi- 
culty in the way — the sick man was skeptical, and, she 
feared, would refuse to see me. I told her I would 
speak to Father Yard of the case, and we would see what 
could be done. On doing so he entered heartily into the 
matter, arranged the time when we should go together, 
and also agreed to take the case to God in believing 
prayer. This was done, not only by ourselves, but also 
at the young men's meeting, when the facts were made 
known. 

When we entered the house on the day appointed, in- 
stead of the sick man being in his bed-room, where he 
could have refused to see us, we found him in the first 
room we entered. I shall never forget the tact and love 
manifested by Father Yard in this case. After religious 



92 The Soul-Winner. 

conversation and prayer, the invalid himself invited us 
earnestly to come again. Showing also considerable 
feeling in relation to his spiritual outlook. Our visit was 
repeated, and I am happy to say that the man was con- 
verted and died in the Lord. 

Mr. Loudenslager says of this kind of work : 

With what joy the leader would report such an answer 
to prayer ! Then he would almost always have another 
case to present, saying, "Now I want you to help me 
pray for such a one," naming some one whose soul's in- 
terests were pressing upon his heart. So we were influ- 
enced to feel that the class-room was not only a rallying 
place for a few who might find profit, but a center of 
spiritual power affecting many who were not present. 
Each member was made to feel a personal interest in the 
work of God, wherever the leader might have any thing 
to do with it, and thus become a helper to him in saving 
souls. 

A case of more than ordinary interest re- 
lated by Mr. Yard in detail, and recorded by 
his nephew, may serve to encourage some soul 
burdened for unsaved friends. 

A mother expressed in class-meeting her 
intense desire for the salvation of her three 
sons and two daughters. In replying, the 



In the Class-room. 93 

leader quoted a remark from Rev. J. Lybrand, 
and the scriptural expression which he applied 
to his own family : " There shall not a hoof 
be left behind," and said to the weeping 
mother : 

" I believe that every one of your family 
will be saved." The daughters were soon 
brought to Christ. The sons for a time be- 
came very careless, but one after another was 
smitten with consumption, and each one at 
length gave evidence of converting grace. The 
mother's class-leader was permitted to see and 
pray with each one in turn, and rejoice in his 
joyful acceptance of Christ as their Saviour. 
" So," said the venerable man, in speaking of 
this case, "not a hoof is left behind;" the 
three sons are in heaven and the two daugh- 
ters are on the way. 

To form an estimate of this faithful leader, 
it must be borne in mind that, while he led four 
classes every week during all those years, he 
watched over all the members of these class- 
es with tender solicitude, sharing their joys 



94 The Soul-Winner. 

and sorrows, carrying all their burdens on his 
heart. 

For many years, during the greatest pros- 
perity of Union Church, fully one third of its 
members were enrolled on his class books. It 
is estimated that during the sixty-three years 
of his leadership, at least one thousand per- 
sons were members of his classes. This can- 
not be too high an estimate. In this work he 
was always faithful, always prompt. Nothing 
would keep him from the class-room but severe 
illness. He would go in all kinds of weather, 
and when his family would say, " Surely there 
will be none of your members out this stormy 
night," he would reply, " There may be some, 
and what if only one or two should come 
and not find their leader there ? I must go, 
and then I shall have done my duty." 

His unvarying habits in regard to punctu- 
ality became so well known among his friends, 
that when he was invited to visit them on a 
class or prayer-meeting evening they were 
very particular to have tea early, for Father 



In the Class-room. 95 

Yard would not be late at meeting on any 
account. 

When he had company at home he would 
always ask to be excused if it were class or 
prayer-meeting evening, many a time rising 
from the table before tea was over, lest he 
should be late. When aw r ay from the city he 
must be sure to return in time to meet his 
class. 

In visiting the homes of his mother and 
sister his stay was usually so brief that they 
would sometimes feel grieved, and would 
urge him to " stay another day ; " but he 
would say, " I must be at my class." " But 
could not some one take charge to-night in 
your stead, just for once?" ' 4 No, not unless 
duty called me to stay here. I must be at my 
post." 

But his work for his classes was far from 
being confined to the class-room. In calling 
the names of his members each week he would 
inquire about the absent ones. If there was 
reason to fear that one was losing interest 



g6 The Soul-Winner. 

in spiritual things he would hasten to see 
that one, and earnestly and tenderly labor to 
fan into a flame the dying embers of his 
Christian love, and bring him back to his class- 
room. 

It was in his visits to the sick that he spec- 
ially excelled. Though far from being effemi- 
nate, there was a gentleness in his voice and 
manner that won all hearts. So quietly would 
he enter the sick room, so thoroughly under- 
stand, at a glance, the situation, so aptly give 
the needed word, and with such tenderness 
and fervor commit the case to the good Physi- 
cian, that his visits to the afflicted were al- 
ways signal blessings ; and to none more so 
than to those whose relation to his classes 
gave them a place in his heart by the side of 
his own children. 

The class in Bedford Street Mission was far 
from being least in importance. The degra- 
dation and misery from which its members had 
been rescued made them objects of peculiar 
interest to him. Their glowing testimonies of 



In the Class-room. 97 

the power of grace would thrill his soul ! 
He often came home from those meetings with 
his heart overflowing ; and his recitals of the 
testimonies of those who were as "brands 
plucked from the burning " would melt the 
hearts of those who heard them ! 

Some of them preceded him in their ar- 
rival in the heavenly world, and he had the 
privilege to witness their triumphant depart- 
ure from hovels of poverty, to join the com- 
pany of the redeemed, having " washed their 
robes and made them white in the blood of 
the Lamb." 

The writer had hoped for fuller accounts 
of her brother's work as a class-leader from 
others who were thoroughly conversant with 
it. In this she has been disappointed. In- 
deed, not until the records on high shall be 
unfolded can any just estimate be made of the 
good accomplished in this one sphere of 
Christian work. If there have been class- 
leaders more gifted, or more successful in 
building up those committed to their care, 



98 The Soul-Winner. 

it may well be doubted if any one ever at- 
tended more class-meetings, enrolled more 
members in his classes, or toiled more faith- 
fully and zealously for the spiritual welfare of 
those in his charge. 



At the Hospital. 99 



CHAPTER X. 

AT THE HOSPITAL. 

TT 7HEN, in 1812, that devoted woman, 
* " Mrs. Page, introduced her young friend 
from Trenton, Edmund J. Yard, to the scenes 
of her labor for the sick and the poor, she 
little thought of the wave of good influence 
she was putting in motion. Soon after his 
settlement in Philadelphia it became his habit 
to spend Sabbath afternoons at the Pennsyl- 
vania Hospital, where his labors were crowned 
with marked success. He kept no record of 
the number of souls which he had reason to 
believe were saved through his instrumentality, 
but in his sixty-three years of faithful work 
there it must have been a very large number. 
In speaking of those saved in that institution, 
he said, " The majority of cases were those who 
had previously received no religious instruc- 
tion or training. Coming there wounded or 



ioo The Soul-Winner. 

sick, their hearts were tender, and their minds 
susceptible to good impressions, and when 
1 the Friend above all others ' was presented 
to them as the lover of their souls, and the one 
i mighty to save,' they were more ready to 
believe and receive him as their Saviour than 
were those differently situated in life, and who 
had received much religious teaching." The 
uncultured, the poor, the friendless, and the 
forlorn, he found were in most cases willing to 
listen to the gospel truth, and ready recipients 
of proffered salvation. 

From the excellent matron, and some of 
his fellow-workers in the hospital, have come 
many such remarks as these : " How the poor 
sufferers loved to see Mr. Yard's face as he 
walked up and down the wards! and how 
eager many of them were to hear from his lips 
the message of salvation !" Having once heard 
his kind and loving words, they were anxious 
for his repeated visits. His manner was so 
tender and kind that it seemed like soothing 
balm to them, as he talked so sweetly of the 



At the Hospital. ioi 

compassionate Saviour who had loved them 
and given himself for them. Their faces 
would light up as they saw him approaching 
them ; and they would say, after he had gone, 
" How I love to hear him talk and pray ; it 
does me so much good." 

Many of the thousands of inmates of the 
hospital during those threescore years, recov- 
ered from their injuries and maladies, and 
returned to their homes ; while a large propor- 
tion died on their sick-beds in the triumphs of 
Christian faith. From a number of those who 
lived to exemplify the power of gospel grace 
he received visits, at his own home, and let- 
ters, after their removal from the city, afford- 
ing rich testimonials of the genuineness of the 
work wrought. 

One of the many trophies which he won for 
Jesus, in that interesting field of labor, was a 
young man from Denmark, who could not 
speak a word of English. He was extremely 
ill, and seeing his condition, the thought that 
he might not be prepared to die, prompted a 



102 The Soul-Winner. 

fervent prayer, which was offered in silence at 
his bedside. Had words been spoken he 
could not have understood, and the servant 
of the Lord left him with a sad heart. The 
thought afterward occurred to him that possi- 
bly the young man might be able to read, and 
if so he might be saved by having a Bible. 
Immediately he purchased one and brought 
it to him. As he took it from the hand of 
the visitor a gleam of joy passed over his 
face, which in a moment gave place to sad- 
ness as he opened the volume, and discovered 
that it was not in his own language. He 
shook his head, signifying that he could not 
read it. 

A mistake having been made in the selec- 
tion of a Swedish Bible, instead of a Danish, 
it was at once exchanged for another in his 
own tongue. On opening it he made great 
demonstrations of joy. Portions of the New 
Testament were designated for him to read 
first, and as he became convalescent he was 
able to read much of the time ; so that when 



At the Hospital. 103 

his friend came again to see him, he found 
that he had read a large part of the book. 

The invalid was looking eagerly for the kind 
donor of the precious book to come, and on his 
arrival seized his hand, warmly pressed it, and 
pointed to some of the chapters he had been 
reading; he then pointed to his heart, and 
looked upward smiling, almost laughing aloud, 
striving to impart the glad tidings that he had 
found Jesus, and that the load of sin and sor- 
row had been removed from his heart. 

He remained, for several weeks in the hos- 
pital, and the frequent visits of his good friend 
gave him great comfort. When about to leave 
and embark for his distant home, he manifested 
deep feeling in parting with him who had so 
lovingly ministered to his spiritual wants. He 
had learned a few words of our language, and 
with the use of these, and by signs made with 
his hands, he tried to convey expressions of 
gratitude and love, and promised to write to 
him after his arrival in Denmark. That prom- 
ise was fulfilled. He wrote a letter in his own 



104 TnE Soul-Winner. 

language, and had it translated and rewritten 
by an Englishman in Denmark, and sent it to 
his friend in Philadelphia. It was full of 
expressions of grateful joy for having found 
such a friend in a land of strangers, and that 
by giving him a Bible, he had introduced him 
to One who was better than all earthly friends, 
and now he had a glorious hope of living in 
heaven forever! He had never read a word 
in the Bible till he received one from the 
hand of the hospital visitor, and that gift was 
of more value to him than millions of gold or 
silver. He was glad he had gone to Philadel- 
phia, and glad he was sick in that city because 
it had brought him to that beautiful place 
where he had met his friend and found Jesus. 
He would serve him as long as he should 
live, and expected to meet his dear friend in 
heaven. 

A Christian worker, who was associated with 
him in hospital labors, gives the following: 

" One Sabbath as Father Yard was going 
the round of his usual labors, in the north 



At the Hospital. 



105 



ward he found a young man who had been 
injured on one of the coal wharves, and was 
in an unconscious condition. His parents 
were with him, and in great anxiety about 
his soul, knowing that he was not prepared to 
die. They were pleading with God to give 
their son time for repentance and salvation. 
According to what the doctor said, there was 
no ground for hope. We all felt that this 
case lay entirely in the hands of the almighty 
Physician, and he alone could heal the poor 
sufferer. Father Yard offered prayer with 
great earnestness, and afterward went through 
the other wards and to the chapel service, 
where he again brought the wounded man to 
the throne of grace, beseeching God to answer 
the prayers which had been offered for him. 
In company with several of his friends he 
returned after the chapel service to the object 
of his great solicitude, and again prayed for 
him with much fervor, pleading for the return 
of consciousness, the protraction of his life, 
and, above all, the salvation of his soul. The 



106 The Soul-Winner. 

assurance was given that the prayer would be 
answered. The parents and all the praying 
ones felt confident that the sufferer would live. 
Such, indeed, proved to be the result. The 
next day he revived, and consciousness re- 
turned, to the great joy of his friends, and the 
surprise of his physicians. Soon after he was 
able to return to his home, healed and renewed 
in both body and soul, a new man indeed, and 
delighting in the service of his new Master ! 

" This was spoken of by our dear Father 
Yard as a special answer to prayer; and such 
cases were not unfrequent. There seemed to 
be a wonderful power in his prayers. He did 
prevail with God in behalf of those cases which 
he presented with such ardor and importunity 
as in the above instance, and the answer was 
sure to come." 

When a prayer is inspired by the Holy 
Spirit, is it not certain to prevail with God ? 
Thousands of cases attest this truth. 

The following is from the pen of Mrs. W. 
H. Heisler, grand-daughter of Mr. Yard ; 



At the Hospital. 107 

One Sabbath afternoon my sister Emeline (who has 
since passed to her heavenly home) and myself accom- 
panied grandpa to the hospital. After the chapel exer- 
cises — consisting of singing, prayer, and a short sermon 
— grandpa asked us to go with him into one of the wards, 
where lay a man who had but a short time to live, and 
who had made no preparation for death. For days pre- 
vious prayers had been offered at his bedside, and the 
promises of God's mercy had been read to him from the 
blessed Bible ; but the poor man, who had been an infidel, 
could not seem to grasp the promises, and he was in a 
most distressed state of mind. We passed into the ward, 
and approached his bedside, and O, what an emaciated 
form met our view ! It was clear to our minds that his 
hours were numbered. By request we sang the hymn, 
*' Arise, my soul, arise," with the chorus 

" Jesus paid it all, 
All the debt I owe." 

During the singing the dying man's countenance 
brightened ; he seemed to drink in every word ; and be- 
fore we had finished the hymn he repeated with rapture, 
"Yes, Jesus paid it all !" and that sin-bound soul threw 
off its shackles, and entered into the glorious liberty of 
the children of God. 

It was an hour of great rejoicing. I turned and looked 
at grandpa ; his face had a serene and heavenly expres- 
sion, as if his soul's desire had been granted, and like 



108 The Soul-Winner. 

Simeon he had "seen the salvation of God." That one 
for whom he had prayed and labored so earnestly was 
now prepared for the heavenly kingdom, and soon after 
fell asleep in Jesus. 

THE SAILOR BOY. 

As the hospital visitor was making his week- 
ly round among the sick one Sabbath-day, the 
matron said, " Mr. Yard, there is a sailor over 
there who is very ill, he has just been brought 
in." Hastening to his side he said, " I'm sor- 
ry to see you so sick," and began to ask him 
some questions, when the poor invalid turned 
from him with a despairing look, saying, " O, 
I'm only a poor sailor boy, and nobody cares for 
sailors." Said the man of God, " I care for 
sailors, and many a sailor have I met in this 
hospital and pointed to Jesus, who is the Friend 
of sinners, and cares for sailors as much as for 
any others in the world." After a few more kind 
words, which seemed to excite little interest in 
the listener, the visitor left him, promising 
to visit him again. Frequent visits, with gifts 
of fruit and delicacies suited to his needs, after 






At the Hospital. 



09 



a time softened his feelings, and won his re- 
gard, and the gloom and reckless despair 
evinced at first, disappeared, and the greetings 
of the young sailor became more and more 

cordial. 

AN INCIDENT 

in the life of Willie Degrosse, the sailor-boy, 
will help the reader to understand why he was 
so unwilling to open his mind to a stranger. 
Left an orphan at an early age, most of his 
life had been spent upon the sea, without the 
kindly influences of home and friends, and in 
circumstances most unfavorable to right living. 
Years before his coming to the hospital, while 
yet quite young, during a brief stay in port, he 
went to a Methodist class-meeting, invited by 
a youth who was a Christian. His young 
heart was touched by the testimonies to which 
he listened of the power of Christ to save, and 
to give peace and gladness to the soul, and a 
glorious hope of heaven, and Willie felt that 
was just what he needed in this world of 
sin and sorrow. Poor boy ! he had never 



no The Soul-Winner. 

known what peace was. Tossed about on the 
billows of adversity, his sea-life was but an em- 
blem of what he had passed through. He felt 
his need of just such a Friend as Jesus, and 
readily he yielded his young heart to the lov- 
ing Saviour, and was happily converted that 
evening before the meeting had closed. 

Happy beyond expression in his new-found 
treasure, he spoke of it the next day to a ship- 
mate, expressing his overflowing joy, and 
urged him to seek religion, assuring him that 
he would be a thousand times happier than 
ever he had been, emphasizing the statement 
with a profane expression. 

" You are a pretty Christian," said his ship- 
mate. "You needn't talk to me about your 
religion ! " 

Instantly poor Willie realized the inconsist- 
ency. The enemy of souls came in like a flood, 
suggesting that he had been deceived, and it was 
impossible for him to live a Christian life. Alas 
for the poor boy ! He had no Christian friend 
at hand to teach him that the profane word was 









At the Hospital. 



in 



only the result of bad habits, not of any pur- 
pose to do wrong, and to encourage him to go 
to Jesus for pardon and strength. So he yield- 
ed to the tempter, " cast away his confidence," 
lost his hold on Christ, and afterward became 
more reckless and wicked than ever. Years 
had passed, and no one had ever given him a 
kind or helpful word. 

No wonder that he repelled the approach of 
his new friend, with the words, " I'm only a 
poor sailor-boy, and nobody cares for sailors." 
But no heart could long be barred against such 
kind words and acts as those of the " soul-win- 
ner." When Willie left the hospital it was 
with a firm purpose to serve God, and a hum- 
ble trust in Jesus. He went to the soldier's 
home to remain during convalescence — before 
embarking on another voyage — but was soon 
brought back by a sudden relapse to the hos- 
pital. He longed to *see his kind friend, and 
sent for him to come, but he was absent from 
the city. On his return, receiving the message, 
he hastened to the bedside of the sufferer. 



ii2 The Soul-Winner. 

Willie said, " I watched all the afternoon last 
Sabbath, and listened to every footstep, hoping 
to see you, but you didn't come, and I felt so 
lonely and so sad! But I opened the little 
Bible you gave me, and read about Jesus and 
his love, and I haven't felt lonely since." He 
had found rest to his poor, weary soul in the 
arms of Him who is "the helper of the help- 
less, and a refuge unto them that trust in him." 
As soon as he had recovered Willie returned 
to his ship and served his country so well that, 
though in a subordinate position in the United 
States navy, he received honorable mention 
by name in the report of his commander for 
conspicuous bravery in a terrible engagement. 
Better still, his manly piety led the officers and 
men of his vessel to invite him to perform the 
service of chaplain on board the ship, as that 
office was not filled. His conduct of religious 
exercises was highly acceptable, and the great 
Captain owned his efforts for the good of his 
shipmates, some of whom were brought to 
Christ through his labors. 




At the Hospital. 113 

When, some months later, it became neces- 
sary on account of failing health to retire from 
the exposures of the sea, he was assigned to 
pleasant duty at the Boston Navy Yard, -where 
he remained some years, and married an ex- 
cellent Christian lady, whose companionship 
contributed greatly to his religious advance- 
ment and his comfort in every way. 

His health continuing to fail, he found it 
necessary to resign his position and seek a 
climate less rigorous. He chose Trenton, N. J., 
as his home. Here his good friend, Father 
Yard, as he always called him, often visited 
him, to the very great joy of the invalid ; and 
the sister of his friend — the writer of this — 
found it a privilege very frequently to visit 
Willie and converse with and read to him. 
One day, when seated by his bed, he asked me 
for a mirror. Taking it in his hand he looked 
with evident composure at his pale and death- 
like visage. I asked him, " Don't it make you 
feel sad to see your emaciated face, and realize 
that death is so near?" 



ii4 The Soul-Winner. 

" Why, no," he said emphatically. " There 
is nothing sad in that ! This is the way I 
view it : yonder is the heavenly city, and 
death is the gate to let me into that glorious 
abode ; I can't feel sad to think I am approach- 
ing the gate to endless joys." 

So through all his sickness grace triumphed. 
On one occasion when I was reading the One 
Hundred and Seventh Psalm, "O that men 
would praise the Lord for his goodness, and 
for his wonderful works to the children of 
men," he exclaimed, "Why don't they praise 
him more ! Why don't Christians praise him 
all the time ! " 

He often requested me to sing for him, 

" Fade, fade each earthly joy, 
Jesus is mine !" 

This hymn was his special favorite. It 
seemed to thrill his whole being. One day, 
when I had been singing those sweet words, 
he said, " O how sweet ! Jesus is mine ! Yes, 
Jesus is mine ! I want you to sing that for 



■ 






At the Hospital. 



ii5 



me when I am dying. Will you, Mrs. James? 
I want you to sing me into heaven ! " 

I replied, " I will if it is in my power to be 
with you at that time." 

The day previous to his death I was with 
him all day. It was a scene of wonderful tri- 
umph as the heavenly city was now full in 
view, and he seemed to hear the music of the 
celestial choir. It was a rich privilege to 
listen to his expressions of holy joy as now he 
stood on the river's brink ready to cross over 
and join the blood-washed company. Over 
and over he had me singing, " Jesus is mine," 
and I thought he would pass over while I was 
singing, but he lingered till the next morn- 



At the early dawn the summons came for 
me to go and see Willie die. I found him 
with his eyes set and apparently unconscious. 
1 said to his wife, 

" You know he requested me to sing him 
into heaven, and I promised him I would if I 
could be with him." 



n6 The Soul-Winner. 

She replied, " He don't know any thing 
now ; he is almost over." 

I said, " I must fulfill my promise," and 
began to sing, " Jesus is mine." The instant 
I began the dying man opened his eyes 
wider, and a gleam of light passed over his 
face. I sang the whole hymn, and while 
singing the last stanza — 

" Farewell, mortality ; 

Jesus is mine. 
Welcome, eternity; 

Jesus is mine. 
Welcome, O loved and blest, 
Welcome, sweet scenes of rest. 
Welcome, my Saviour's breast ; 

Jesus is mine " — 

with the last words Willie's happy spirit 
departed to that bright world of bliss. Its 
radiance was reflected upon his countenance 
as the lifeless form lay beautiful in death, and 
the spirit of the sailor-boy was with Jesus. 

The beautiful life and triumphant death of 
William H. Dc Grosse, rescued by the faithful 




At the Hospital. 117 

hospital visitor, impressed many in intimate 
relations with him. 

A secular paper of Trenton, contained the 
following notice : 

William H. De Grosse, whose funeral was so largely 
attended on Sunday last, was an acting ensign in the 
United States Navy during the war, and in the second 
attack on Fort Fisher honorable mention is made of 
the part he took, in the report of the Secretary of the 
Navy for 1865, (page 170.) He was a member of Gen- 
eral Harrison Lodge, I. O. O. F., of Philadelphia, and of 
Post No. 11, G. A, R. Dept. Mass., the members of 
which organizations, here gave him most honorable 
burial. The services in the State Street Methodist 
Episcopal Church were very impressive, commencing 
with the chant "Cast thy burden on the Lord," with a 
recital of the Christian life of deceased, by Mr. Yard, of 
Philadelphia — the comrades of Post No. 8 paying the 
last honors to his remains at the grave, with their 
impressive burial ceremonies. 

It was a privilege to visit week after week 
those scenes of suffering in the hospital, and a 
joy unutterable to hear the praises of new- 
born souls, and witness the triumphs of re- 
deemed spirits departing. Who can conceive 



n8 The Soul-Winner. 

the bliss of that now sainted one, surrounded 
by the throng of the glorified spirits whom he 
had been instrumental in bringing to that 
glorious world where " there shall be no sor- 
row, pain, nor death ? " 

And such bliss awaits every faithful soul- 
winner. 




At Camp- meetings. 



119 



CHAPTER XI. 

AT CAMP- MEETINGS. 

I ^OR pleasure-seeking this earnest worker 
had neither time nor inclination. In all 
his long life he never left his home merely 
to enjoy a vacation. Yet, every summer he 
would leave the city for a week or ten days, 
to find the refreshing shade of some delightful 
grove. He loved to commune with nature in 
her own temple, and it was refreshing to the 
weary worker to get away from the heat and 
dust and tumult of the crowded city ; but 
such privileges were not the prime object of 
his summer trips. He sought association with 
kindred spirits in the higher fellowship with 
M Nature's God." This was his joy every- 
where, but the privilege of spending a week 
in constant devotional exercises was to him 
a feast indeed ! and specially where he could 
have larger opportunities for winning souls. 



120 The Soul-Winner. 

It was his habit to rally a company of 
choice spirits, mostly from Union Church, 
with the pastor, who would go prepared for 
the good work, and entering into it with full 
purpose of heart, were always rewarded with 
rich " showers of blessings." 

In former years there was usually a Prayer- 
meeting tent, and a " Young Men's tent," and 
near them a number of small tents for the 
accommodation of families and individuals. 
Of the circle thus formed Father Yard was 
the patriarch. One who was privileged to 
share the enjoyments of the Union company, 
numbering from a hundred to a hundred 
and fifty, year after year, writes the follow- 



With what zest did the venerated father of our com- 
pany enter into all the exercises of the hallowed place ! 
The early morning prayer-meeting-, the preaching, with 
prayer-meetings following, were never neglected ; but it 
was in the tent work that he was most completely in his 
element. The quiet, solemn, melting influence of those 
seasons of exhortation, conversation, and prayer ! Was 
ever any thing more heavenly ? His counsels and ap- 




At Camp-meetings. 121 

peals, and above all his prayers, can never be forgotten. 
His vocal pleadings at a throne of grace were always 
inspiring, but there .was an influence attending his camp- 
meeting prayers that was marvelous ! 

But here, as every-where, his best work was 
with individuals. The young people of his 
classes, some of them the objects of solicitude 
because of heart wanderings detected by their 
vigilant leader, were sought out by him and 
helped nearer to God. Often there was some 
unsaved one in the company, whom he had 
brought with many prayers, on purpose to be 
converted. Almost always his keen spiritual 
discernment discovered some backslidden one, 
or some dear young man unsaved. 

Some of these were strangers to him when 
the meeting commenced, but he had found 
them out of the fold ; they belonged to the good 
Shepherd, and must be brought back to him. 
Hundreds of souls have been saved through his 
personal efforts at camp-meetings. Vincent 
Town, Crosswicks, Swedesborough, Titusville, 
Penn's Grove, Ocean Grove and Danville, in 



122 The Soul-Winner. 

New Jersey, and Red Lion and" Camden, in 
Delaware, were the places he most frequented 
as the sites of camp-meetings. How these 
names, and others, call up scenes where the won- 
derful power of God was displayed ! On many 
of those occasions the almost transfigured form 
of the venerable Edmund J. Yard was promi- 
nent. How he exulted ! Now it seemed as if 
the frail body must break under the pressure 
of the overwhelming glory! Often he was 
heard to say, " There is no place quite so 
near heaven as the camp-ground. I should 
like to go up from camp-meeting to my home 
on high." This wish was not granted him ; 
but at the reunion in some grove " on the 
banks beyond the river " in the paradise above, 
thousands will greet him, and thank God that 
they ever met that man of God in the tented 
groves of earth. 

One of the many interesting cases in which 
he was instrumental in the salvation of pre- 
cious souls at camp-meeting is distinctly re- 
membered by the writer of this volume. It 



#* 



At Camp-meetings. 123 

engaged the hearts and prayers of the entire 
Union company, of which she was favored to 
be one. 

A number of us, including my brother, went 
down to the camp at Penn's Grove, N. J., on 
the Saturday previous to the camp-meeting. 
Many of the tents were being erected on the 
ground, and among the workmen employed 
was a young carpenter, who was quite prepos- 
sessing in appearance, and very bright and in- 
telligent. His services being secured to assist 
in putting up the tents for our company, my 
brother was in frequent conversation with him, 
and became deeply interested for his salvation. 
Soon the subject of religion was introduced, 
but to the words of earnest exhortation and 
Christian counsel there was no response from a 
heart evidently hardened by a long course of 
sinful rebellion. The son of a minister, relig- 
iously trained, " gospel-hardened," he seemed 
incorrigible. Often presenting the cases of 
inconsistent professors as a plea for his contin- 
uance in sin, he resisted every appeal. But 



124 The Soul-Winner. 

the " soul-winner " was not to be repulsed or 
wearied. Day after day he followed the young 
man, and at night he gave him lodging in his 
tent, for the purpose of more private conversa- 
tion and prayer with him, persistently trying 
to influence him to see and yield to the claims 
of Christ. He treated his faithful friend with 
marked respect and kindness, but seemed un- 
moved. As day after day we would meet for 
prayer, this case would be presented for sup- 
plication — "he must be saved!" — and it was 
touching to see the tears and deep concern of 
his friend for " that precious soul." Indeed, 
such anxiety pressed upon his heart that he 
could not rest till the young man was rescued 
from the dreadful peril of exposure to eternal 
ruin. 

One day, when the company had assembled 
in the large tent for prayer-meeting, we saw 
the young man approaching, encircled with 
the kind arm which had led so many young 
men to the mercy-seat. The callous heart at 
last had yielded to the melting power of the 



m 
■ 



At Camp-meetings. 125 

Holy Spirit and the entreaties of his devoted 
friend, and he bowed at the penitents' bench, 
weeping and pleading for the pardon of his 
sins. Never was there a more contrite and 
earnest seeker. Day and night he was found 
at the place of prayer, and all hearts sympa- 
thized and offered up devout supplications in 
his behalf. At each successive meeting every 
one looked for and expected his conversion. 
Scores of seekers had found Jesus in those 
meetings, and all wondered that one who 
seemed so sincere and so earnest was not 
blessed. The camp-meeting was drawing to 
its close, and the solicitude for the sorrowing 
seeker, in whose behalf so many prayers had 
been offered, became more and more intense. 
We could not, must not, let him go away from 
that sacred place unsaved. Renewed efforts — 
a special season of prayer — and increased ardor 
on the part of the penitent, gave a new impetus 
to our faith ; surely he would be blessed that 
night ! Such fervent pleading had seldom been 
heard. We were all in an agony of supplica- 



126 The Soul- Winner. 

tion, and the humble mourner was almost con- 
vulsed in the dreadful struggle. Must the 
powers of darkness triumph ? No, it must 
not, could not be that the arch fiend would 
conquer! The conflict was tremendous. 

At length his faithful friend by his side said 
to him, " I fear you are cherishing something 
in your heart that is keeping Jesus out. David 
said, ' If 1 regard iniquity in my heart the Lord 
will not hear me.' Now, nothing else could 
prevent you from being accepted of God when 
you are so contrite, sincere, and earnest. Look 
into your heart and see if you are indulging 
any wrong feeling, principle, or desire." A 
still deeper struggle ensued ; then, in the 
midst of the terrible conflict, the young man 
suddenly started to his feet and ran out of the 
tent, causing the wondering company still 
greater solicitude. But they lingered at the 
mercy-seat pleading for the object of their deep 
concern. In about twenty minutes he came 
running back to the tent and fell upon his 
knees screaming, " O God, now forgive me as I 



■ 
mm 




m 



-<V> 



At Camp- meetings. 127 

forgive ! " Instantly salvation came, and the 
new-born soul exulted in the pardon of his 
sins, and his adoption into the kingdom of 
God! 

The secret of that protracted struggle he 
afterward told us. He had been at enmity 
with a relative, and had entertained feelings of 
bitterness and hatred. This was the barrier in 
his way ; he was conscious that he had done 
wrong to that individual, but had been un- 
willing to humble himself and ask her forgive- 
ness, until that moment when he so suddenly 
left the tent. She was on the ground, and 
hastening to her he said with tears, " I have 
wronged you, and I am very sorry. Will you 
forgive me ? " She replied, " Yes, I freely for- 
give you." He then kissed her and hastened 
back to the prayer-meeting, where he was 
quickly saved. 

The joy of that praying band was unbound- 
ed as they saw the captive set free and rejoic- 
ing in " the glorious liberty of the children of 
God." As the aged saint and the newly saved 



128 The Soul-Winner. 

youth embraced each other in the exuberance 
of their bliss, that exulting company sent up a 
shout of glad halleluias to the " Mighty to 
save" for this glorious triumph of his grace. 
It was a scene never to be forgotten. 



On the Wing. 129 






CHAPTER XII. 

ON THE WING. 

"|\ If ANY souls were won by the personal 
appeals of Mr. Yard when traveling in 
cars and steamboats. Ever watching for op- 
portunities to do good, the indefatigable 
worker would in every journey find some one 
to whom his heart went out with prayerful so- 
licitude, and he would contrive to obtain ac- 
cess to the ear of such a one in a way that 
would almost in every case insure access to the 
heart. 

And this is not strange. The Christian 
worker had his mind set upon winning souls, 
and his heart was thus in perfect sympathy 
with Him who "came to seek and to save the 
lost." Would not the Holy Spirit prompt 
such a willing instrument to speak to the right 
one, that is, one who would receive the mes- 
sage ? Surely this is a reasonable conclusion, 
9 



130 The Soul-Winner. 

and one sustained by God's word. This ac- 
counts for his success. 

Frequent visits to Trenton, prompted by his 
attachment to his mother, and other relatives 
there, afforded him many opportunities of this 
kind. On his arrival he would usually have 
some interesting story to tell about meeting 
" a dear young man " to whom he spoke on the 
subject of religion, and how " he seemed to be 
impressed, and promised to read the little 
Bible or Testament which he gave him," etc. 
Acquaintances thus formed in many cases rip- 
ened into strong mutual attachments. Of 
these came some of the most pleasing asso- 
ciations of his life, with the promise that their 
subjects would become bright stars in his 
crown of rejoicing. An account of one trip 
with some of its results may serve as a 
specimen of hundreds which were of equal 
interest. 

One pleasant summer day, as he passed up 
the Delaware River on the steamer " Edwin 
Forrest," the pale visage, emaciated form, 



On the Wing. 131 

and tottering steps of a fellow passenger at- 
tracted his attention. He approached the 
sick man, tenderly saying, " Good morning, 
my friend, I am sorry to see you looking so 
feeble." 

The invalid thanked him for his kind ex- 
pression of interest, and said, " I don't feel 
very well, but hope a trip to the country will 
bring me up to my usual health." 

He was on his way to visit a friend in the 
suburbs of Trenton, where he designed to 
spend several weeks. It was but too evident 
that the poor man was a victim of consump- 
tion, and that his days were numbered. But 
nothing was said to discourage him, though 
an affectionate appeal in reference to his spir- 
itual interests brought tears to his eyes, as 
he acknowledged his past forgetfulness of 
God and carelessness of his eternal concerns. 
Yet he said, " I try to do right, and hope 
all will be well with me even if I should 
die, but I have no thought that my case is 
serious.' 



132 The Soul-Winner. 

The mother of the sick man sat listening to 
their conversation with tearful eyes ; she un- 
derstood the critical condition of her son and 
felt very anxious in regard to him. 

As the boat touched the wharf the feeble 
man leaned on the proffered arm of his new 
friend and walked up into the city to meet a 
conveyance to his destination. On parting he 
expressed much gratitude for the interest 
shown in his behalf, and promised to read at- 
tentively the little Bible presented to him. He 
took the name and address of the donor, giv- 
ing his own in return. 

Several weeks had passed when a note was 
received saying, " The sick man, Mr. O., whom 
you met on the steamboat, is failing very fast, 
and desires to see you. Please come as soon 
as you can." The invalid had returned to his 
home, several miles from Philadelphia, and 
soon his friend was by his side pointing the 
penitent to the sinner's Friend. He said, " Mr. 
Yard, I have been praying ever since I saw 
you that day, but it has seemed so dark to me. 



On the Wing. 133 

I am such a sinner ! O how I have wished 
for you to talk and pray with me, but I stayed 
in the country so long, and knowing you had 
returned to the city, I did not wish to give you 
the trouble of coming so far to see me, and so 
I waited to get home before I would send for 
you. I only returned yesterday, and felt in 
haste to get you here." 

While commending the humble seeker to 
the compassionate Saviour, the word of peace 
was spoken, the precious blood that cleanseth 
from sin was by faith applied, and the man 
cried out, " I am saved ! I am saved ! " 

His mother and wife, who were neither of 
them experimental Christians, were awakened 
and soon after converted. The next time their 
friend came he found the three rejoicing in 
Christ. In a few weeks the happy spirit of the 
sick man passed away to join the redeemed 
host above. 

Thus were three souls won for Jesus. And 
these were not the only results of that trip 
to Trenton. Returning to his home on the 



134 The Soul-Winner. 

same boat the next day after his interview 
with the consumptive above mentioned, the 
faithful worker found more to do for his divine 
Master. 

Another sick man, a young soldier, was seat- 
ed on the deck of the steamer, looking sad and 
lonely. Some conversation revealed the fact 
that he was a skeptic, and a hard case to reach. 
But knowing that there is nothing too hard 
for Omnipotence, the devout Christian, look- 
ing up to God for aid, commenced a siege 
upon the apparently impregnable heart. He 
began his task in the most gentle and loving 
manner, setting forth the wonderful Saviour 
and his infinite love and mercy and power. 
To this there was returned a broadside of infi- 
del arguments. But the " sword of the Spirit " 
was wielded, which, being always " mighty," 
caused the enemy to fall back a little, though 
still trying to maintain his ground. The con- 
test lasted till they reached the city, then, tak- 
ing the hand of the soldier, his friend said, " I 
commend you to God. I shall pray for you 



On the Wing. 135 

every day, and shall hope to see you soon." 
Then he handed him a copy of the New Test- 
ament and Psalms, and asked for his address, 
which was given. 

Not many days passed before the soldier was 
visited by his new friend, who found him ill 
from hemorrhage of the lungs. He received 
his visitor with gentlemanly politeness, thanked 
him for his interest, and listened respectfully 
to his entreaties to seek refuge in the Saviour 
of sinners. The icebound heart began to yield 
as the " hot shot " from a heart full of Chris- 
tian love were showered upon it, yet it was 
not quite ready to capitulate and bid Christ 
welcome. Consent, however, was given that 
prayer should be offered in his room, and at 
parting the soldier said, " Come again." The 
visit was soon repeated, and with more encour- 
aging results. The rapid waning of the inva- 
lid's strength, from frequent loss of blood, 
betokened the near approach of death. At 
this stage his heart was fully surrendered to 
God, and when called to die he said, " I am 



136 The Soul-Winner. 

going to heaven ! " He kissed the dear friend 
who had led him to Jesus, and said, " I shall 
meet you, Mr. Yard, at the heavenly portals, 
and hail you with joy as the instrument of my 
salvation." 

Several of the young soldier's friends, some 
who had watched with him and frequently vis- 
ited him during his illness, were influenced by 
him to give their hearts to God, and at that 
time commenced a religious life. 

Thus through the efforts of that Christian 
worker on those two trips — going to Trenton 
and returning the next day to Philadelphia — 
at least five or six souls were converted. What 
encouragement to sow the good seed " beside 
all waters ! " 

One of our excellent ministers remarked, 
" Edmund J. Yard has accomplished more 
good in the world than any ten ministers I 
have ever known. The souls saved through his 
faithful labors, the building up of Churches, the 
training of Christians in his classes, the distri- 
bution of Bibles, the relief of the poor, the aid 



On the Wing. 137 

given to missionary enterprises, both at home 
and abroad, the vast amount of substantial 
good that he has, by God's help, brought to 
the world, is beyond computation— beyond 
conception." 



138 The Soul- Winner. 



CHAPTER XIII. 

WRITING LETTERS FOR JESUS. 

T} ELIGIOUS correspondence has ever been 
a mighty agency for the accomplishment 
of good, and few knew how to use it so well 
as the one of whom we now write. By far the 
largest portion of those for whose edification 
he labored were not residents of Philadelphia. 
To the " boys," as he called the young men 
who from time to time went forth from Union 
Church to literary institutions, to enter the 
Christian ministry, or to engage in business in 
distant places, he wrote innumerable letters of 
Christian counsel and instruction. Many cf 
those whom he had met in the hospital, those 
over whom he had wept and prayed at camp- 
meetings, and those with whom he became 
acquainted in many short journeys or visits, 
were followed with letters. All had a place in 
his heart, and these and all others in whom he 



Writing Letters for Jesus. 139 

had become interested, seemed ever after to 
be objects of his tender solicitude. To all such, 
at parting, he would give his address, with the 
earnest request, " Let me hear from you soon." 
Many of them complied with his request, and 
never did a letter from one of them remain 
long unanswered. 

To many who shrank from beginning a cor- 
respondence he wrote first. And such letters! 
Not only did they breathe the most ardent af- 
fection, but they were filled with just such 
suggestions and counsels as young men in such 
circumstances would need. In some cases the 
correspondence thus commenced was continued 
through many years. Rarely did the pen 
of the good man rest till his young friend had 
become so established that his aid did not seem 
longer to be specially needed. Then the con- 
stant and increasing demands upon his time 
for this and other kinds of labor mjght compel 
him to lengthen the intervals until at last the 
correspondence would cease. Even then the 
mention of a name would call forth such words 



140 The Soul-Winner. 

as proved that his friend had not been for- 
gotten. 

Not many months before his death he stated 
to his sister that he had been compelled for 
want of room to destroy two thousand letters, 
but had preserved one thousand. Nearly all 
these were from such correspondents as have 
here been alluded to. Was ever pen more 
busy in this kind of labor? Of the results of 
his correspondence but little comparatively 
can be known in this world, but there is most 
abundant evidence that his letter-writing was 
a special instrumentality for good. 

Of the many letters of his ever-busy pen 
but few are now accessible to her whose pleas- 
ant duty it is to gather up these fragments. 
The limits of this volume will not allow the 
insertion of even those at hand in full, but the 
picture of this warm-hearted Christian worker 
would not be complete without a few extracts 
from his epistles to indicate the general style 
and tenor in which they were written. 

The first two which follow were written to 



Writing Letters for Jesus. 141 

Mr. E. D., of Windsor, formerly Centreville, 
N. J., who writes, "It was my happy fortune 
in early manhood, when young in Christian 
experience, to make the acquaintance of him 
whom I delighted to call Father Yard, whose 
affable attentions and wise and godly counsels 
richly entitled him to that endearing ap- 
pellation." 

LETTERS TO MR. D. 

Philadelphia, January 18, 1855. 

My Dear E. : — I reached home in time for my class 
on Monday evening, and we had a very precious meeting, 
as we had also on Tuesday evening at my house, and 
last evening at class. But those dear young men at Cen- 
treville are continually before me. I long for them. My 
visit to your dear home, and the kind attentions there — 
the privileges of the Sabbath in that beautiful church, 
and the interesting congregation, the school, the parents, 
the young people, and especially the young men — will 
never leave my recollection ; and I could find it in my 
heart to spend many Sabbaths with them if it would do 
them good. Dear son, try every means to gain them for 
the Saviour. O may you have many of them as bright 
stars in your crown ! They seemed to me to be almost 
persuaded to become Christians. Please give my kind- 
est love to them, and say that my heart goes out in 



142 The Soul-Winner. 

ardent prayer for them, and I should be very happy to 
see them again. 

The second is dated 

Philadelphia, March 24, 1856. 

My Dear E. : — I long so much to see you. that I 
must talk a little to you on paper once more. I some- 
times think I have a special message for those dear 
young men. If I could be with you a week when the 
walking is good and the weather settled, and we could 
have meeting every evening, I think we might win some 
for the Saviour. I long for their salvation ! Would to 
God they might reflect and "turn to the Stronghold," 
and "receive double." 

I have much to tell you of precious ones who have 
turned to the Lord on sick-beds, and died in triumph 
and gone to heaven. 

With this cherished friend he continued to 
correspond for a number of years. 

His love for young men and the tact and 
persevering energy with which he labored for 
one whom he had long borne upon his heart 
may be seen in the following letters 

TO A YOUNG MAN. 

June 25, 1858. 

My Very Dear G. :— I must write a little to you ; not 
that I love you little, for I love you more than pen or 



Writing Letters for Jesus. 143 

tongue can describe. O, G., have you begun the great 
work of your salvation ? 

Let me tell you about a dear young man I have re- 
cently visited. He was from Lancaster, Pa., boarding 
with a friend of mine. He is a painter and was thought 
to be dying with painter's colic. He had made no prep- 
aration for death, although he had been awakened a 
short time previous. On Sunday his mother was tele- 
graphed to come and see him die. On that afternoon his 
friend asked me if it would be right to speak to him 
about religion. I said, "Yes, by all means, and if you 
wish I will go and see him." This friend of the sick man 
went to see him — a long distance from his home — and 
asked him about his soul. He seemed concerned, and 
asked him to pray for him, and said he would like to see 
me. His friend came for me, and finding I had gone to 
the young men's prayer-meeting of our Church, came 
there for me. I asked the prayers of the meeting for him, 
and after we had offered two prayers I felt a sweet as- 
surance that the Lord would bless him. I asked the 
friends to continue in prayer for him while I would go and 
pray with him. I hastened to take the long walk, and 
found the dear youth. I had never seen him before. I 
talked with him and then prayed. The Lord answered 
the united prayers ot those in the church and those in 
the sick-room, and the Lord blessed him so powerfully 
that his body as well as his soul partook of the benefit. 
On the following Tuesday he went home with his mother 



144 T HE Soul-Winner. 

to Lancaster happy in the Lord. I expect him to return 
very soon to spend some time with me. 

So, you see, my dear G., the list of my dear friends 
constantly increases. But 

11 When all the ship's company meet 
Who've sailed with their Saviour beneath," 

what a meeting it will be ! O, my dear friend, don't be 
missing then ! Put the armor on now, and battle for the 
Lord against every foe, and he will keep you by his 
mighty power. My dear G., I have never ceased to pray 
for you and your dear family since we parted. When 
shall I get a precious letter informing me that you have 
become an heir of the heavenly kingdom ? How I long 
for that happy intelligence ! 

May God bless you ! I hope to meet you where part- 
ing will not be known. Don't let the world rob you 
longer of the precious treasure. The Lord is willing and 
ready to adopt you as soon as you will come to him. 
God bless you and save you forever his is the prayer of 
your friend, Edmund J. Yard. 

Nearly two years later, in a brief note, evi- 
dently written in haste, he alludes to the sud- 
den death of a Christian pastor a few days 
before, and adds, " So we are passing away, 
dear G. Let your heart be fixed on the Lord, 
and all will be well." 



Writing Letters for Jesus. 145 

Seven years passed, and his friend G. had 
not yet publicly espoused the cause of Christ. 
After having visited the place of his residence 
Mr. Yard writes : 

Philadelphia, July n, 1867. 

My Very Dear G. : — I feel as if I must write you 
some advice, although I have seen you so recently. I 
never had a more interesting visit to C. than my last. I 
have loved you dearly ever since I first saw you, but 
never so much as now. Your kind attentions to me al- 
most overcame my feelings, and your tender affection 
manifested toward your dear wife, all seemed to show 
you to be just the man I should wish to love, and whose 
friendship I would cultivate. 

And now, my dear friend, the Lord has given you a 

Christian companion to walk with you through life, and she 

is all that you could wish on earth ; will you let her enjoy 

the love of God and you live without it ? Much as you 

prize her, you cannot know her true value until, like her, 

you enjoy the real life of God in your soul. Then you 

will be able fully to appreciate her worth. Then your 

spirits will so entirely blend together that you will be one 

in Christ Jesus as well as one in the conjugal relation. 

Your union in this life must have an end, but if united in 

Christ you will be one forever. That is your desire, my 

dear friend, I am sure, to dwell forever with your loved 

ones and with the Lord. Now don't let the enemy cheat 
10 



146 The Soul- Winner. 

you any more by procrastination. There is so small a 
matter remaining for you to do — you really love the Lord, 
why will you not acknowledge him ? and then the work 
will be done. It is your imperative duty to go with your 
wile to the Church and both give in your names to live 
and die in the Lord. Then you will have all the sympa- 
thies and helps of the Church. How sweet it would be 
to sit down together and read the word of life, and then 
ask the blessing of the Lord upon you morning and even- 
ing of each day. O how I long for you to be per- 
fectly happy ! and the Lord will make you so if you will 
do his will. And then your example will tell upon so 
many around you. I believe all the young men will fol- 
low you if you will come. Think, then, you may save a 
score or more of souls, that may be lost if you neglect 
your duty. O come, dear G. ; do not refuse, and God 
will bless you and yours all the clays of your life here and 
forever. Write very soon and say it is done. 

Yours, as ever, EDMUND J. YARD. 

After three years more of praying and wait- 
ing this indefatigable soul-winner writes to a 
mutual friend of his continued solicitude for 
his friend G. : 

Will you give my love to dear G., and ask him if he 
will be one of the company whom I love at C. that will 
meet me in my Father's house in heaven. O how I long 



Writing Letters for Jesus. 147 

for his salvation ! I intended to have written to him be- 
fore now, but my many engagements and many infirmi- 
ties have prevented. Tell him I look right at him every 
day, while I plead with the Lord to break his heart that 
he may love the Saviour, and if I die in pleading I will 
hold on to him. 

That consecrated pen is no longer busy with 
appeals, counsels, and consolations, but there 
are eyes that fill with tears as they follow its 
tracings of long ago, and many a heart will be 
richer forever for its faithful work. 



148 The Soul-Winner. 



CHAPTER XIV. 

LABOR VARIED AND ABUNDANT. 

T N the work of soul-winning the subject of 
this history had such a hallowed ingenuity 
that his methods cannot be fully described. 
While, therefore,. it would not seem proper to 
devote a chapter to each of his many spheres 
of labor, yet it may be well to give a view of 
him as " sowing beside all waters ; " grouping 
together a few facts, throwing light upon sev- 
eral of his modes of Christian effort. 

PUBLIC ADDRESSES. 

Edmund J. Yard never received license to 
preach. It is in harmony with the usages of 
the Church in which for sixty-five years he 
was an honored member for laymen to re- 
ceive license as local preachers. Such au- 
thority his brethren would gladly have con- 
ferred upon him, but he never was willing to 



Labor Varied and Abundant. 149 

accept it. His position as class-leader gave 
him the right to hold religious meetings, and, 
as will be concluded, from the facts already 
given, his right and gifts were often used. 

For many years, to avoid conflict with 
Romanists, the officers of the Pennsylvania 
Hospital did not allow clergymen to officiate 
within its walls. During all those years the 
chief and almost only speaker at the Sabbath 
afternoon services in that institution was Ed- 
mund J. Yard. In later years, when he had 
more helpers, occasionally asking a minister 
to address the company, it was always his 
custom to offer prayer and sometimes to make 
remarks, and he did this even after the ap- 
pointment of a regular chaplain. Whoever 
had spoken or was to speak, no words received 
more attention, or awakened greater interest 
than those uttered by his familiar voice. 

In the six o'clock Sabbath evening meetings 
at Union Church the report of the hospital 
work of the day, with incidents of his visits to 
invalids there or elsewhere during the week, 



150 The Soul-Winner. 

were a part of the service almost as regularly 
as the opening prayer or the doxology at the 
close. These accounts would occupy from 
ten to twenty minutes, and were always list- 
ened to with interest. 

He received many invitations from ministers 
to assist them in revival meetings. His ad- 
dresses, though never in the form of sermons, 
were always heard with close attention, and 
were often effective in winning souls, espe- 
cially young men. 

His nephew, Rev. J. H. James, now a 
pastor in the New England Southern Confer- 
ence, thus writes : 

" Several times, during my early ministry in 
New Jersey, my uncle visited me and ad- 
dressed the people. I recollect especially two 
watch-night occasions, on each of which he 
occupied more than an hour in giving a his- 
tory of his life, holding the closest attention 
of his audience, and making a deep impression 
in favor of the religion which had done so 
much for him. At other times he addressed 



Labor Varied and Abundant. 151 

Sunday evening congregations, evidently doing 
great good. We were always delighted when 
he could visit us. His labors gave a new 
impulse to the good work." 

Occasionally he made similarly acceptable 
and helpful visits to other ministers. In Tren- 
ton, during his frequent visits to his relatives, 
his labors were specially acceptable. He often 
spoke of his early struggles and victories in 
that city. With such interest were his ad- 
dresses listened to that scarcely any announce- 
ment would call out a larger congregation 
than that Father. Yard would speak. 

Now what gave this modest layman such 
power as a public speaker? His voice was 
never strong. It was with difficulty that he 
spoke loud enough to be heard, hence, in large 
rooms especially, it was not easy for the people 
to catch all his words. No brilliant flashes of 
genius, no carefully rounded periods won the 
admiration of those who hung upon his lips ; 
yet his hearers were often moved to tears, 
ajid always to renewed interest in the work 



152 The Soul-Winner. 

of salvation. What was the secret of his 
power. 

Three facts may help us to discover it. 

First, He always had something to say. 
Keenly alive to the events occurring around 
him, they fixed themselves upon his memory, 
and he had only to open his mouth and his 
hearers would see the scenes through which 
he had been passing. If he had a special 
talent it was this, a rare power in relating in- 
cidents of his own work. 

Second. His heart was full of the work in 
which he was engaged. If it was over true of 
any one besides the Divine man, it was true 
of Edmund J. Yard that it was his " meat 
and drink to do the will of his Father in 
heaven." 

Third. He spoke not for self, but for Christ. 
Every one felt this. If in any sense he was 
the hero of his own narrations it was only as 
the humble agent whom the Master had been 
pleased to own and bless. Speaking for Jesus, 
with a heart all interested and with fresh facts 



Labor Varied and Abundant. 153 

to give, it is little wonder that people listened 
with interest. No social meeting would be 
dry, no public service long neglected, if those 
who speak on these great themes of religious 
truth and duty had always a like prepara- 
tion. 

AMONG FIREMEN. 

No class of men gained a stronger hold upon 
the ardent nature of this Christian worker than 
the volunteer firemen of his adopted city. 
The very fact that they were mostly young 
men would have been enough to enlist his 
efforts in their behalf, for with him, as with 
his Master, to look upon a young man was to 
" love him," (Mark x, 21,) and, if possible, to do 
him good. But these young men were hero- 
ically devoting themselves to an arduous and 
dangerous service for their fellow-citizens ; 
and he could but admire their manly courage, 
and noble self-sacrifice. Besides, they were 
exposed to peculiar temptations, and with 
fatherly solicitude he longed to draw them 
into the only safe shelter for the tempted and 



154 The Soul-Winner. 

imperiled. This interest in firemen led him 
to become a member of the Hope Hose Com- 
pany, of Philadelphia. Of course, he did not 
engage with the company in active duty at 
fires, he had not physical vigor for that ; but 
in every enterprise for the good of the com- 
pany he loved to be active with effort and 
with purse. He sought to become personally 
acquainted with each one of the members. 
Then, as opportunity occurred, he would 
interest his pastor in the company, and a 
number of times they were invited to attend 
Union Church in a body and listen to a ser- 
mon prepared with special reference to their 
needs. 

At one time he gave a pocket Bible to each 
member of the organization, with the name of 
its owner and that of the giver written on the 
fly-leaf. Subsequently, for a number of years, 
he gave one to every member who joined the 
company. 

But the direction in which his inspired inge- 
nuity was most signally manifested was in his 



Labor Varied and Abundant. 155 

labors among sick firemen. The following is 
one of many cases of this kind : 

He heard of a young fireman, Mr. J. G., 
who was dangerously ill, and unprepared to 
die. He had no personal acquaintance with 
him, but the friends of the young man had 
appealed to this fireman's friend in his behalf, 
knowing that he would gladly do all in his pow- 
er to save the imperiled soul. He first laid the 
case before the members of one of his classes, 
and the band of believers joined their leader 
in prayer that he might find access to the room 
and heart of the sick man. Next day he 
called at the place of business of the young 
man's father, saying, " I understand you have 
a son, a fireman, who is sick. I am a fireman, 
and am in the habit of visiting sick members 
of fire companies." 

An apprentice, who stood by, volunteered to 
accompany the stranger to the sick room. 
Entering, the visitor said, " I am a member of 
the Hope Hose Company. I understand you 
are a fireman, and I have called to see you." 



156 The Soul-Winner. 

He was kindly received. His conversation 
and prayer evidently impressed the mind of 
the invalid, though previous to that time he 
had manifested no interest in the subject of 
religion. The visit was repeated by invitation 
of the young man. The next Thursday the 
visitor said, " This evening my class meets, 
the very class who prayed that I might have 
access to you. We shall again be engaged in 
prayer for you. Will you meet us at a throne 
of grace? " 

He replied, " Yes, I will." 

The meeting was one of special interest and 
spiritual power, and faith in behalf of the 
young man grew stronger. A few days aft- 
erward the mother of the young man, when 
busy with her household duties, was called 
by her son, exclaiming, " O, mother, help me 
to praise the Lord for what he has done for 
me ! I feel so happy ! so happy ! " 

From that time he gave evidence of a work 
of grace in his heart. Among his latest utter- 
ances was a message of love and thanks to 



Labor Varied and Abundant. 157 

those dear people of Union Church for pray- 
ing for such a sinner. 

While the body of the young man lay a 
corpse, his associates gathered in the room 
and a prayer-meeting was held, conducted 
by Mr. Yard. 

In such work as this he found his great 
delight, and in the fruits of such labors he was 
permitted to rejoice. 

His " labor was not in vain in the Lord." 
Trophies were won for Jesus even among the 
firemen. During a number of years but few 
months passed in which he had not one or 
more cases of this kind of which he would 
speak in his classes, and the members would 
join with him in prayer and then in exultation 
over repentant and converted souls. 

IN PRISON. 

Prisons would seem the most unpromising 
fields for effort to win souls, yet there he found 
precious ones for whom Christ died, and won 
many a gem for his Redeemer's crown. In 



158 The Soul-Winner. 

dreary cells his visits were welcomed, and his 
kind words and godly instructions were re- 
ceived with marked attention and respect. 
The most depraved could not listen to the 
message of salvation from his lips without 
feeling that it was love for their souls which 
prompted his visits. 

While presenting the compassion and love 
of Him " who forgiveth iniquity, transgression, 
and sin," some of the poor desponding victims 
of the destroyer laid hold of the hope set be- 
fore them, trusted in him " whose blood can 
make the foulest clean," were cleansed from 
their pollution and numbered with the chil- 
dren of God. One case found in prison, of 
which my brother spoke with deep feeling, I 
specially remember. 

A young man upon whom he had bestowed 
great care — watching over him as a member 
of his class whom he had brought to Jesus — 
after having removed from the city and his 
Church privileges, became negligent of relig- 
ious duties, and consequently lost the divine 



Labor Varied and Abundant. 159 

favor and returned to the world. Associating 
with the wicked, he was led into an affray 
which took him to Moyamensing prison. After 
his incarceration he sent for his^ good friend, 
who was painfully surprised to find him in a 
prison cell. With tears of contrition the poor 
wanderer confessed his backslidings, and as 
they together knelt in supplication the peni- 
tent found pardon and peace through faith in 
Christ. 

Palliating circumstances in his case, which 
removed from his conduct the alleged crimi- 
nality, procured an early release from prison, 
and through the efforts of his friend he ob- 
tained employment, and by his consistent life 
was reinstated in the Church and in the confi- 
dence of the community, and continued a faith- 
ful Christian. 

His humiliating fall, though divested of the 
intention of wrong-doing, he could never cease 
to deprecate, because it was the result of de- 
parture from God, and brought reproach upon 
his cause. 



160 The Soul-Winner. 

As in many other cases it was thus the joy 
of the soul-winner to restore an erring one, and 
that " he which converteth the sinner from the 
error of his way shall save a soul from death, 
and shall hide a multitude of sins." Jas. v, 20. 

IN THE ALMSHOUSE. 

Often were the steps of this good man, 
who, like his divine Master, " went about do- 
ing good," directed to the institutions afford- 
ing shelter to the poor ; and a special privi- 
lege he felt it to be permitted to verify the 
words of Jesus, " To the poor the gospel is 
preached." Such persons he usually found 
more receptive of the glad tidings of salvation 
than those in different circumstances. And 
while the warm sympathies of his nature went 
out to them, it was his special delight to cheer 
their sad hearts with the blessed invitations 
and consolations of the glorious gospel of the 
Son of God. With what avidity would those 
sad ones listen to the story of His love who 
gave his life for sinners, and how their hearts 



Labor Varied and Abundant. 161 

were thrilled by the precious message from him 
" who, though he was rich, yet for your sakes 
he became poor, that ye through his poverty 
might be rich." And as he presented the 
glorious privileges of the children of God, in be- 
ing made the recipients of the exceeding riches 
of his grace, many disconsolate ones came to 
Jesus and were made heirs of God and joint 
heirs with Jesus Christ to an inheritance that 
is incorruptible, undefiled, and that fadeth not 
away. 

Never did a more welcome visitor cross the 
threshold of the abodes of the poor. His ap- 
pearance among them brought sunshine and 
gladness to many a sorrowful heart. 

Some of the most interesting accounts of his 

success in winning souls were in connection 

with his labors among the poor, and it was one 

of the grandest objects of his life to lift the 

fallen, to comfort the distressed, to bind up 

the broken-hearted, and to help the helpless. 
11 



1 62 The Soul-Winner. 

distributing bibles. 

His love for the Bible and his realization of 
its hallowing influence upon his own heart and 
life prompted him to make extraordinary ef- 
forts to place it in the hands of others. He 
was in the constant practice of giving Bibles 
and Testaments to young men, not only in his 
own city, but in other places. Rarely if ever 
did he go from home without copies of the 
holy word for this use. Indeed, he gave them 
by hundreds — to firemen, to students in sem- 
inaries, to young converts in revivals, to in- 
mates of almshouses, prisons, hospitals, to sol- 
diers and sailors, and, indeed, to all classes. 
Thousands of copies were presented by him to 
as many persons, mostly by his own hand. 

The happy results of those precious gifts 
often cheered his heart. Among the hun- 
dreds of letters which he received from the re- 
cipients of Bibles there were many such expres- 
sions as the following: "The Bible you gave 
me was the means of bringing me to Jesus." 



Labor Varied and Abundant. 163 

Late in life he said, " Nothing gives me so 
much pleasure to look back upon as the dis- 
tribution of Bibles. It has been the best invest- 
ment I ever made, or could possibly have made, 
of the same amount of money. It has accom- 
plished good beyond all computation." 

In presenting the sacred book he would re- 
1 

quest a careful and attentive perusal of it, and 
the promise of compliance would generally be 
given. We cannot suppose that such prom- 
ises were fulfilled in every case, but that they 
were in a large number he had the best of 
evidence. 

A gentleman who received a Bible as a mem- 
ber of the Hope Hose Company and afterward 
became a member of Congress, declared that 
wherever he went he carried that Bible. 

A young man, one of the family of five, con- 
verted in answer to the prayers of the class, 
elsewhere referred to, was about leaving home 
to spend a winter in Florida. Mr. Yard went to 
the steamer to see him off. In parting he took 
from his pocket a Bible, and as he handed it 



164 The Soul-Winner. 

to the young man he said, " I want you to read 
this at your leisure on the voyage." He prom- 
ised, but with improving health the promise 
was forgotten, and the book was brought back 
to Philadelphia unopened. Subsequently his 
friend, while engaged in prayer for him, was 
impressed that before two weeks Samuel would 
be converted and would send for him. At or 
about the time thus indicated the mother of 
the young man called to ask him to visit her 
invalid son, who was very anxious to see 
him. He went and found him sitting with 
the Bible in his hand. He exclaimed, " O, Mr. 
Yard, I am so glad to see to you ! Here is the 
Bible you gave me. I promised to read it, 
but never opened it until recently. Now I 
want to read it all the time." And it was 
not long before Samuel was in possession of the 
" pearl of great price." Some weeks after he 
passed away in triumph to the celestial world. 
Whole companies of soldiers went forth to 
the war armed with pocket copies of the New 
Testament and Psalms from his hand. How 



Labor Varied and Abundant. 165 

many of them found those weapons helpful in 
the contest with spiritual foes we cannot know, 
but hundreds of copies of the book received 
from him are to-day cherished, not only as re- 
minders of the kind friend of long ago, but 
still more highly as " a lamp to the feet and a 
light to the path " of their possessor. Of none 
is this more true than of his many spiritual 
children in Philadelphia and elsewhere, for it 
was his uniform habit to give to every such 
one a copy of the sacred word with the name 
of the receiver and the donor. 

A detailed account of the labors of my broth- 
er in these and other fields would fill volumes. 
These particulars are given simply as suggest- 
ive of ways of working. The fact is, his 
whole life was devoted to such labors. He 
sought first the kingdom of God. Business, 
pleasure, every thing was subordinate. Is it 
any wonder that he was successful in soul- 
winning? Can any one fail who is thus 
"always abounding in the work of the Lord?" 
1 Cor. xv, 58. 



1 66 The Soul-Winner. 



CHAPTER XV. 

INDIRECT INFLUENCE. 

TI 7HO can measure the results of an effort 
to save a soul? To be used by Christ 
in plucking one brand from the burning, in 
opening to a human spirit the gate to endless 
life, must be cause of everlasting joy and grati- 
tude. How exalted, then, the privilege of win- 
ning those who in their turn become soul-win- 
ners, and of saving those who consecrate their 
energies to the blessed work of soul-saving. 
This was pre-eminently the gift of the worker 
for God whose history we are tracing. Many 
of those whom he led to Christ seemed to 
catch his spirit and went forth to put in mo- 
tion waves of holy influence which shall move 
on, in circles widening to all eternity. Such 
are to be found in all the walks of life ; not 
a few in the ministry, who are sending forth 
their own spiritual children to win successive 



Indirect Influence. 167 

generations for Jesus. A single case narrated 
by Mr. Edmund S. Yard, gives a glimpse of 
the fruits following the efforts of his father to 
save one soul. 

During a series of meetings held in Union Church in 
the winter of 1840-41, a young man, in delicate health, 
was observed in one of the evening meetings. There 
was something very prepossessing in his appearance. 
His cheeks were ruddy and fair, but the hectic flush of 
disease was there, and Death seemed to have marked 
him as his victim. My father gently approached him, 
and extending his hand, kindly inquired about the inter- 
ests of his soul. 

The young man seemed pleased with his attentions, and 
informed him that he was from the town of E., in New 
Jersey, and of Presbyterian parentage. He occupied the 
position of book-keeper in one of the large importing 
houses, on Chestnut Street, Philadelphia, and was suffer- 
ing from a supposed pulmonary affection. He was closely 
confined to business during the week, and on the Sab- 
bath was accustomed to seek recreation and fresh air by 
making trips on the steamboats and other conveyances 
to the neighboring towns and country. 

He could not be prevailed upon to approach the altar 
of prayer, as a penitent, that evening, but promised to 
consider the great matter of salvation, and be present on 
the following evening. 



1 68 The Soul- Winner. 

He came, and when the invitation was given to all who 
felt the need of a change of heart to approach the mercy- 
seat, my father went to him, and he immediately arose 
and bowed at the altar of prayer as a seeker of salvation. 
Subsequently, he was liberated from the burden of sin, 
and rejoiced in the glorious liberty of the gospel. 

Instead of his usual Sunday trips, from that time he 
went into the Sabbath-school and taught a class of boys. 
He became one of the most faithful workers in the 
school, and his class became noted for the attention and 
good behavior of its members. 

The health of the new convert rapidly improved so 
that he was enabled to attend to his duties in the count- 
ing-room with greater satisfaction. 

About a year after his conversion, in company with 
his younger brother, who had also been brought to 
Christ, he removed to a town in the north-western 
part of Illinois, for the purpose of engaging in the grain 
and mercantile business. 

On their first Sabbath in the town they were distressed 
on beholding the stores all open, as on other days. 
Farming was prosecuted as usual. Farmers carried 
their grain to the merchants, and there seemed to be 
no thought of God or remembrance of his command 
to keep the Sabbath-day holy. Steamboats made regu- 
lar trips on the Sabbath for the purpose of loading with 
grain, purchased by merchants, to deliver at the Saint 
Louis market. 



Indirect Influence. 169 

The two brothers secured a store in an advantageous 
location, and opened it with a superior stock of goods, 
purchased in Philadelphia. Their trade was good, and 
attracted the attention of the inhabitants of the town 
and surrounding country. But on the Sabbath their 
store was closed, much to the disappointment of farmers 
and others who had decided upon that day to examine 
their goods, and also to trade off the grain they had 
brought into town. 

They tried every inducement to persuade the young 
men to open their place of business, but their plea did 
not avail ; and the citizens and farmers gave them to 
understand that unless their store was open on the Sab- 
bath, as on other days, they could not succeed. Their 
answer was always ready, that they could not and would 
not violate God's holy day by engaging in secular busi- 
ness. 

During the week following they determined upon 
having divine service in a hall used for public meetings, 
as there was no church or minister of God in the town. 

Handbills were circulated through the place, inviting 
the people to meet in the hall on Sabbath morning, at 
eleven o'clock. A number attended from curiosity. 
The younger brother opened the meeting with prayer, 
after which the elder brother made a few remarks, 
expressive of their intentions, and then read one of the 
sermons of Rev. John Wesley. 

The people were taken by surprise, but were deeply 



170 The Soul-Winner. 

interested. On each succeeding Sabbath the congrega- 
tion increased in numbers until the hall became too 
small for those who desired to hear the words of divine 
truth. 

In a short time a meeting of prominent citizens was 
held, and a request made to the young merchants to 
secure the services of a minister, that worship might be 
held in the hall until better accommodations could be 
procured. 

The brothers attended the next session of the nearest 
Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and 
brought home with them an embassador of Christ full of 
zeal and of the Holy Ghost, who labored faithfully, 
visiting the people from house to house ; and soon the 
power of God was manifest in the awakening and con- 
version of the people, and large numbers were brought 
from darkness to light. 

From that time the stores of the place were closed on 
the Sabbath. Public traffic of every kind was discon- 
tinued, and many of the people became not only moral, 
but truly religious. 

Soon after the arrival of the minister, by the liberality 
of the inhabitants, a neat and commodious church was 
erected, and since that time several fine church edifices 
have been built and occupied by worshipers. God 
prospered those young men, and wealth flowed into their 
possession. 

An incident is worth recording which occurred in con- 



Indirect Influence. 171 

nection with their business. As before mentioned, 
steamboats had previously make regular trips to the 
town on Sabbath-days to load with the grain that had 
accumulated during the week. Hence the Sabbath was 
always the most busy day of the week. The young 
merchants had purchased a large quanity of grain, but 
refused to ship it on the Lord's day. The people 
laughed at them for their conscientious scruples, but they 
were decided and firm, choosing rather to lose it all than 
to violate the divine command. They continued to 
purchase all the grain that was offered until their 
storehouse was overflowing. A steamboat then came 
up the river during the week — a circumstance that had 
not before occurred. The Christian young men shipped 
their grain by that steamer, and on its arrival at Saint 
Louis the cargo brought a considerable advance over 
that which had been shipped by their neighbors on the 
Lord's holy day, a rise having taken place in the market 
between the times of shipping. Thus was the hand of 
God seen in favoring his faithful servants." 

Verily, " in keeping his commandments 
there is great reward." What an exemplifi- 
cation here is of the truth of the divine word, 
" Seek ye first the kingdom of God and his 
righteousness, and all these things shall be 
added unto you." And how vast the good 



172 The Soul-Winner. 

resulting from the conversion of those two 
young men, their unswerving obedience to 
God, and their efforts in that ungodly place 
for the salvation of the people. No labor 
yields results to be compared with those for 
the salvation of souls. 



Home Life. 173 



CHAPTER XVI. 

HOME LIFE. 

TT must not be supposed that the multiplied, 
varied, and exacting labors which have been 
described were allowed by this Christian work- 
er to interfere with the duties which every one 
owes to those beneath his own roof. It was 
at home that the luster of his saintly character 
was most brilliant. 

Intimations have already been given of af 
fliction in that home. This was the illness, 
serious and prolonged, of his beloved wife. 
Nearly all their married life Mrs. Yard was a 
great sufferer. The training of his boyhood, 
mentioned in the first chapter, had prepared 
her husband for the work of caring for her in 
this protracted affliction. The best medical 
skill was procured, and every remedy that 
promised a cure, or even relief, was used with 
loving and persistent assiduity. No pains nor 



I^HH 



174 The Soul-Winner. 

expense was spared that could minister to her 
comfort. 

Indeed, to this constant care and effort was 
due the lengthening of a life held for about 
thirty years by a most slender thread. Cheer- 
fully did he bear this burden, receiving from 
his wife the strongest expressions of gratitude 
for his unremitting attentions and unvarying 
kindness. None ever knew what he suffered 
in her affliction from the strong sympathies of 
his nature, and from the loss of sleep and con- 
tinuous watching instead of resting at night. 
Yet never a murmur was heard from his lips ; 
nor did he ever lose sight of the " silver lining" 
of the dark cloud in the grace bestowed upon 
both in this trial. But the devotion of this 
model husband could do no more than keep 
alive the feeble flame of existence, and palliate 
sufferings always severe. 

At length the mortal strife ceased, and a 
peaceful death terminated the wife's sufferings 
in the latter part of the year 185 1. 

His eldest son, Benjamin F., was now mar- 



Home Life. i?5 

ried and living in Trenton, N. J. The young- 
er son, Edmund S., had a pleasant home in 
Philadelphia. After his mother's death he re- 
moved his family to his father's house, on 
Spruce Street, above Second, which for many 
years had been the homestead. 

The kind ministrations of his children and 
grandchildren brightened the remaining years 
of the widowed father, and he returned their 
kindness with the warmest affection. 

Mrs. Emeline Carrigan Yard, the amiable 
and lovely wife of his son, Edmund S. Yard, 
was most devoted in her attentions to the be- 
reaved father, whose presence in their home 
was regarded by every member of the family 
as a benediction. 

The following account from the pen of his 
son Edmund, now the only surviving one, will 
be read with interest. In allusion to their 
union with his father in the paternal home he 
writes : 

I shall never forget my father's gratitude for this ar- 
rangement. Surrounded by his children and grandchil- 



176 The Soul-Winner. 

dren, the keenness of his sorrow was mitigated, and his 
loneliness cheered. He seemed so happy to have the 
little ones of the household always with him. Even in 
his hours of business they were welcome visitors in his 
office. I never knew him to speak a quick or unkind 
word to either of them ; but on all occasions he showed 
his interest in their welfare. At times he was as playful 
with them as if he were of their own age. 

From my earliest recollection of my father until the 
close of his life he always exhibited the same sweet, lov- 
ing, and gentle spirit. In his home relations he was 
kindness itself, always entering with interest into any 
plan for the happiness of those around him. Easy, 
though dignified, in manner, devoted to his family and 
friends, every one that approached him felt his warm 
sympathetic nature. 

On Thanksgiving Day, 1862, he went to meet the fam- 
ily at our summer home near the village of Pennington, 
N. J. When the hour for dinner arrived my only broth- 
er and his family, who lived near us, came over and joined 
us at the table, the first time we had ever all met in such 
a family reunion. There sat the aged patriarch at the 
head of the table, his elder grandson of each family on his 
right and left, the other grandchildren arranged with ref- 
erence to age. His face gleamed with pleasure, and the 
kind words which fell from his lips were like pearls. 

After dinner was over we knelt in solemn prayer, and 
those of us who remain can never forget that loving and 



Home Life. 177 

fervent appeal to the King of kings for the welfare of 
each member of the two households. That clay was to 
my father one of the most precious of his earthly pil- 
grimage. 

In the spring of 1864. we were deeply afflicted in the 
loss of my beloved companion. Her devoted attentions 
to my dear father, added to her charming disposition, 
caused him to love her with all the tenderness of a par- 
ent. I can never forget the depth of his grief at her 
death. Yet in the midst of his own heartfelt sorrow he 
tried to console the mourning ones around him, and 
pointed them to the haven of rest whither the loved and 
lovely one had gone. But when we stood around the 
coffin of our dear departed to take the last fond look of 
all that remained, the venerable one who had been our 
comforter seemed overcome, and it was with difficulty 
that we could remove him from the place. 

A younger sister of my deceased wife was left in 
charge of the family, who in time became the maternal 
head of the household. It was her pleasure to minister 
to the comfort of my aged father in every way, as her 
predecessor had done, and her kindness was fully appre- 
ciated and reciprocated with warm affection. His loving 
manner toward each member of the family greatly en- 
deared him to us all. Whenever he left the house on 
business, or on missions of mercy and usefulness, he al- 
ways bade each one a kind good-bye with a kiss. His 

expressions of fond regard were like those of a most 
12 



178 The Soul-Winner. 

tender mother, and were noticed by all who visited our 
home. 

As a father, Mr. Yard was most tender and 
affectionate ; ever solicitous for the welfare of 
his children, affording them every advantage 
in his power in regard to education, home com- 
forts, and pecuniary means. At the period of 
fheir maturity he established them in business, 
and in every possible way sought to advance 
their interests both temporal and spiritual, 
delighting in any sacrifice of his own ease 
and comfort to promote that of his beloved 
children. 

The death of his eldest son, Benjamin, while 
yet in the prime of life and the father of a fam- 
ily, was a source of great sorrow. He had 
parted with him when he entered the army in 
the war of the Rebellion with serious appre- 
hensions that his health would suffer from toil 
and exposure, and although his position was 
not as hazardous as that of some of his fellow* 
soldiers, yet the onerous duties of hospital 
steward, involving a heavy draught upon his 



Home Life. 179 

sympathies and physical energies, proved too 
much for his enfeebled health, and after his 
return home it was evident that the heart af- 
fection, of which he had had symptoms for 
years, had become more serious. After some 
weeks of gradually failing health, his life was 
very suddenly terminated — most unexpectedly 
to his family and friends. 

The shock to the devoted father was very 
severe ; but, as in former bereavements, he was 
graciously sustained and comforted by the as- 
surance that through the atoning merits of the 
Saviour, whom his son had loved, he was num- 
bered with those who " have washed their 
robes and made them white in the blood of 
the Lamb." Though no words were spoken at 
the last assuring them of his preparation for 
heaven, the hearts of the bereaved ones were 
cheered by the evidence of a satisfactory Chris- 
tian experience, especially in the later months 
of his life. In the diary of the soldier, mem- 
oranda were found after his death recording 
seasons of blessed communion with God, ex- 



i8o The Soul-Winner. 

pressing great interest in the spiritual condi- 
tion of the men under his care in the hospital, 
and in other ways evincing devotion to God. 

So, while the loss of his firstborn deprived 
the aged father of an arm on which he had 
hoped to lean in his declining years, the tears 
he shed were illumined with the joy of faith 
and hope. His prayers and counsels had not 
been in vain. 

His little Robert " was not,'* and now the 
beloved Benjamin was gone, and with the pa- 
triarch Jacob he must feel that he was " be- 
reaved of his children," yet he knew, as Jacob 
in his griefs did not, that their " elder Brother" 
had removed them, not to earthly, but to heav- 
enly joys. Now one more earth-tie was sev- 
ered, and one more attraction added to the 
home where his treasures were awaiting him. 
With a chastened yet trustful, even exultant, 
spirit the heaven-bound pilgrim urged his on- 
ward steps in the path of Christian activity, 
saying, " Our Jesus hath done all things 
well." 



Home Life. i8t 

HOSPITALITY. 

A beautiful trait of his home-life was his 
generous hospitality. His extensive acquaint- 
ance, both in the ministry and laity of his own 
and other Churches, brought to his house many 
who prized his friendship and delighted in his 
society. A cordial welcome and assiduous at- 
tention were always extended to the guests of 
his pleasant abode. To many a stranger, in- 
troduced to Father Yard, has his house proved 
a delightful home. Of his guests many were 
young men who had found a warm place in 
his heart, and whom he always greeted with a 
kiss of love. A number who had been suffer- 
ers in the hospital, and were far from home and 
friends, received in his residence the kindest 
attentions during weeks of convalescence, until 
returning health warranted a journey too fa- 
tiguing for persons enfeebled by sickness. His 
"boys," as he called all young men in whom 
he was specially interested, could not have 
found more cordial and hospitable entertain^ 
ment at a father's table, than they received in 



182 The Soul-Winner. 

the Spruce Street home at the hands of their 
warm-hearted host. 

During many years the family rarely sat 
down to the table without some guest, and 
never was one entertained there who was not 
made to feel at home. Two incidents from 
the pen of his son, Edmund S. Yard, will fur- 
nish admirable illustrations of his father's 
hospitality: 

During the late war of the Rebellion my venerated 
father manifested a deep interest in the temporal and 
spiritual welfare of the "brave boys in blue." As he 
passed along the streets of our city and met with soldiers, 
he always stopped and talked with them, and tried to 
sow some good seed in their hearts. Always having 
with him copies of the New Testament and Psalms, or 
small Bibles, he would present to them the sacred book, 
accompanied with some good advice. In his collection 
of photographs there were many sent to him by persons 
to whom he had presented the precious word with a fa- 
ther's blessing. For months we seldom set down to a 
meal without the company of one or more of this class 
that he had fallen in with during his walks. God 
only knows how many of those brave men whom we 
entertained, and who received from his hands the 



Home Life. 183 

"bread of life," are now safely housed in the mansions 
above. 

During the fall of 1863, after the battle of Gettysburg, 
there were many sick and wounded soldiers in the wards 
of the Pennsylvania Hospital. These were regularly vis- 
ited by my father in his weekly rounds at that institution, 
and occasionally during each week also. As soon as 
they became convalescent he obtained the consent of the 
surgeon to have them take tea with him at our home. A 
car was secured on a street running near to the hospital, 
and within a few steps of our house, so that the infirm 
and wounded would not be much exposed. As I stood 
with my wife at the door to receive them, a most touch- 
ing scene met our eyes. 

First came my father escorting an officer from one of 
the Western States who had lost an arm at the shoulder, 
and had suffered severely from an attack of fever. His 
wife also was with them, she having attended her hus- 
band through his illness. After them came sixteen oth- 
ers ; some having lost an arm, others a leg, the latter 
walking by the aid of crutches, while a portion of them 
were scarcely more than skeletons from long courses of 
typhoid fever. It was one of the most afflictive sights I 
ever beheld. 

We soon made them comfortable, and could any one 
have seen the expression of pleasure in their counte- 
nances, and listened to their words of gratitude for the 
kindness shown them, he would have felt that we were 



1 84 The Soul- Winner. 

amply repaid for any amount of trouble and expense the 
occasion had caused. Tea was prepared, and we all 
sat down with hearts full of love one to the other, and to 
the Giver of all our mercies. At the table every one 
seemed entirely at ease and engaged in pleasant con- 
versation. 

After tea some of our kind neighbors came in, and one 
of them being a superior performer on the piano, we had 
some beautiful pieces of music played for the entertain- 
ment of the company. Afterward some of the army songs 
— so popular at that time — were sung, the soldiers joining 
heartily in the choruses. Before the company left my 
father offered one of his most fervent prayers in behalf 
of those present and of those of their comrades who were 
facing death on the battle-fields. 

It was one of the most pleasant evenings I ever spent, 
and one which time can never efface from my memory. 
At nine o'clock, the car being in wa'ting, all were re- 
turned in safety to the hospital. 

During the fall of 1876, near the close of the centen- 
nial exposition, a number of visitors, several of them min- 
isters of various denominations, came to our home. The 
deep interest taken in each one by my father was remark- 
able. Every thing that a generous heart could suggest 
was clone for their comfort. How anxious he seemed 
that they should all reach the exhibition grounds com- 
fortably, meeting them on their return so cordially, in- 
quiring if the time had passed pleasantly, and showing 



Home Life. 185 

them the utmost Christian courtesy and polite attentions, 
striving by every means to make them all feel at home. 

A party of twelve ladies and gentlemen from north- 
eastern New York, all of them members of Christian 
Churches, came to our house in October of that year. 
The second evening after their arrival, while sitting to- 
gether with my family in the parlor, it was requested 
that we should have prayer. After singing some of the 
sweet songs of Zion, by special request my father led in 
prayer, and if man was ever inspired I think he was at. 
that time. I had heard his prayers all my life, and had 
enjoyed them, and, I trust, profited by them, but the 
prayer offered on that occasion exceeded all I had ever 
listened to. All eyes were suffused with tears, and every 
heart felt deeply those petitions, so full of divine unction 
and power. 

As the company were about to start on their homeward 
journey they requested that their aged friend would again 
offer prayer, feeling that it would probably be their last 
interview with him on earth. With deepest fervor he 
pleaded for their protection during their journey and their 
safe return to their homes. In their letters to us they 
still allude to " the prayers of the venerable saint " who 
seemed so ripe for heaven — prayers which so moved their 
hearts, and seemed to bring down upon them the blessing 
of the Most High — and expressed the earnest desire and 
hope that they should meet him where parting is un- 
known, who had so won their hearts by his kind atten- 



1 86 The Soul-Winner. 

tions and his exemplification of the beauty of holiness. 
Friendships were thus formed that will be lasting as 
eternity. Many of those estimable friends on hearing of 
the sudden exit of the venerable servant of God have 
written us letters of true Christian sympathy. 

Whatever the circumstances that brought to 
his dwelling the friend of many years, or the 
acquaintance of an hour, this servant of God 
obeyed the injunction, " Use hospitality . . . 
without grudging." I Pet. iv, 9. Hundreds of 
hearts have been made lighter and better for a 
sojourn beneath his roof. How glorious the 
thought of a reunion above ! The deepest and 
most abiding impressions made by this beauti- 
ful life, however, was that upon the circle of 
his immediate kindred. I cannot better close 
this chapter than with 

A granddaughter's tribute. 

BY MRS. W. H. HEISLER. 

How sweetly grandpa exemplified the true Christian 
life of gospel holiness ! His home life was beautiful. He 
spent hours of each day in communion with his God. 
At family devotion his petitions were offered with child- 
like trust and confidence. One expression I specially 



Home Life. 187 

remember as often used by him, " Choose our changes 
for us." Thus when changes and reverses came he saw 
the hand of Him who loved him, and said, " He knows 
what is best for us." 

Amid peculiar business trials and perplexities his faith 
took hold of One « strong to deliver." It was a rare priv- 
ilege to live with grandpa, he was so gentle and unvary- 
ing in his tenderness, sympathy, and love. He entered 
into all our plans with interest, and we felt that in him 
we had a wise counselor, one who had " wisdom from 
above," end who, like Enoch, "walked with God." 

The Sabbath was a blessed day to him. The day was 
completely filled up with attendance on religious services 
and his labors at the hospital and in sick rooms. Some- 
times he seemed so feeble we would try to persuade him 
to rest, but he would only smile— such a rare, sweet 
srri Ue— as if saying, " Dear children, ' I must be about my 
Father's business.' ' Resting time will come by and by." 
A life so fully consecrated to God could not fail to " bring 
forth much fruit." 

Thou art resting now, dear grandpa, but thy memory 
is like sweet incense, precious and hallowed ! Thy chil- 
dren rise up and call thee blessed. 



1 88 The Soul-Winner. 



CHAPTER XVII. 

TRIALS AND TRIUMPHS OF ADVANCING YEARS. 

rAURING the later years of his life unex- 
pected reverses brought to Edmund J. 
Yard severe tests of his Christian graces. He 
said to one of his relatives, " I had expected to 
have enough to live on in ease and comfort all 
my days on earth, and to enable me to give 
many more copies of God's word to the dear 
young people, as well as in other ways to do 
good by the use of money; but it is all gone, 
and in my old age I am to be poor. At first, 
when this dreadful blow came upon me, it al- 
most overwhelmed me ; but I looked up and 
said, ' The Lord liveth, and blessed be my rock, 
and let the God ,of my salvation be exalted.' 
1 Though he slay me, yet will I trust in him.' 
And then a sweet, heavenly calm came over 
my spirit, and I have felt unspeakably happy 
ever since." This perfect trust and the perfect 



Trials and Triumphs. 189 

peace resulting therefrom remained unbroken 
till his happy spirit winged its upward flight. 
Through the last ten years of his life — the 
period of his straitened circumstances — his face 
u as aforetime " was ever bright with heavenly 
peace, and never was a murmur heard from his 
lips. On the contrary, he cherished a perfect 
acquiescence in God's will. " He has permit- 
ted it," he would say, " and certainly he must 
have done so for some wise purpose." " What 
we know not now we shall know hereafter." 

About a year prior to his death he spoke in 
an experience-meeting of the wonderful good- 
ness of God to him. How he had crowned his 
life with loving-kindness and tender mercies, 
and said, " My heart is full of praise all the 
time." A brother in the Church asked him 
one day, " How is it that you never speak of 
trials? I thought you had passed through 
some pretty severe ordeals, but I have never 
once heard you allude to them." His reply 
was, " My afflictions are made so light by the 
presence of Jesus, and the abounding comforts 



190 The Soul-Winner. 

of the Holy Spirit, I have scarcely realized that 
I had any thing like trouble." Thus he obeyed 
the inspired counsel of the Apostle James, 
" Count it all joy when ye fall into divers 
temptations." James i, 2. 

To be deprived of the privilege of making 
generous contributions for the promotion of 
Christ's kingdom, as he had been accustomed 
to do, was indeed a trial of no common magni- 
tude. From the time alluded to in an earlier 
chapter, when he had recovered from his finan- 
cial embarrassment, he had not only lived in 
comfort, but had found great delight in giving 
liberally to the cause of God in its various de- 
partments. No call for aid to the needy or 
any other worthy object had failed to meet a 
response from him, and no one ever enjoyed 
more " the luxury of doing good." Especially 
was it his joy to help young men in securing 
educational advantages. Many of these have 
done good service in the Christian ministry. 
To be denied such privileges was indeed a 
painful privation, which was the greatest trial 



Trials and Triumphs. 191 

of his last years, and the only one of which he 
was accustomed to speak with expressions of 
regret. Yet even in this his chastened spirit 
bowed with submission, rejoicing when he saw 
others favored with means to make up his lack 
in giving. 

BEREAVEMENTS. 

A heart so tender and so affectionate 
always suffers keenly in the loss of those 
who are near and dear. While divine grace 
sustains, and even causes us to triumph in 
the severing of human ties, it does not make 
us Stoics, nor render us insensible to the pain 
of parting with those whom we fondly love. 
Nor are we forbidden to weep over our dead, 
for our own adorable Jesus wept at the grave 
of Lazarus. 

Many times had this tender heart been 
stricken by the sundering of fond ties, and 
now in his advanced years, in September, 1866, 
a heavy blow fell upon him and his brothers 
and sister in the death of their valued brother, 
Charles C. Yard, of Trenton, N. J. The 



192 The Soul-Winner. 

latter was a brother whose qualities of mind 
and heart rendered him exceedingly precious 
to his kindred, to the Church of which he 
had long been a useful official member, (Green 
Street Methodist Episcopal Church, Trenton,) 
and to the community in which his life had 
been spent. No one of his relatives more 
highly appreciated him than did his brother 
Edmund, and no one could more deeply feel 
the loss of such a brother. Their congeniality 
of mind and of heart made the bond uniting 
them of twofold strength. 

When called to part with Charles the trial 
fell heavily upon him, and he felt that he had 
sustained a loss irreparable in this world. Yet 
looking forward to the world where we shall 
find our loved and lost again, he thought of 
the glorious reunion, and was calm and re- 
signed. How sweetly he talked of the loved 
ones in heaven, and said, <; It will not be long 
before we shall join them on the other shore." 

The wound made by our brother Charles' 
death was scarcely healed when, in less than 



Trials and Triumphs. 193 

four years, another beloved brother was tak- 
en away — John Yard, Jun., of Philadelphia, 
long an elder in Dr. Chambers' Presbyterian 
Church, and an active and excellent Christian. 

The eldest daughter of this brother, Mrs. 
Robert M'Curdy, of Philadelphia, who was a 
favorite niece, died just before her father. 
Indeed, her decease seemed to be the imme- 
diate cause of his sudden death, which occurred 
within one week of her own. This double be- 
reavement made the sorrow of the family al- 
most insupportable, and deeply did the loving 
brother Edmund share in that sorrow. 

The lovely daughter, in the prime of her 
beautiful life cut down, and the devoted 
father following her so soon to the grave, was 
a bereavement indeed. 

To a dear friend he writes of these afflictive 
events, as follows : 

Philadelphia, April 5, 1870. 

I feel this morning" that I must write to you of a 

dispensation of my heavenly Father. In one week a 

beloved niece, forty-eight years old, and her father, my 

own dear brother, in his seventy-third year, have both 
13 



194 The Soul-Winner. 

been taken from earth to heaven. My niece lay in great 
suffering for seventeen weeks, and then death came to 
release her. When told that she had come down to 
Jordan's brink, she smiled and said, " It's all right," and 
passed over with a sweet assurance of joining the blood- 
washed company on the other side. 

Her father's system being in a feeble condition, the 
shock was too great, and within twenty-four hours he 
became seriously ill, and died in six days. He had 
expressed a wish to go to heaven with his much-loved 
daughter, and they were thus quickly reunited in the 
world above, to join in the everlasting song of glory to 
the Lamb. 

Here I am, almost left alone of my relatives and old 
friends. But " the Lord liveth," Blessed be his holy 
name, and " because he lives I shall live also," and be in 
glory with him forever. " O, what a company I shall 
meet there ; and after a while you will come, and we 
shall meet to part no more." 

In the summer of 1874 he was once more 
called to mourn. His cherished nephew, Rev. 
Robert B. Yard, for some twenty years an 
earnest and highly esteemed minister of the 
Newark Conference, was stricken down, in the 
midst of his years and usefulness. From the 
time of his conversion, his uncle had felt a 



Trials and Triumphs. 195 

father's interest in him, giving him invaluable 
counsels, and aiding him in securing an educa- 
tion. His entrance upon the gospel ministry 
thrilled his uncle's heart with joy. For years, 
few weeks passed without letters between 
them. Again and again visits from Uncle 
Edmund cheered the heart of the young 
pastor, and gave a new impulse to God's work 
in his parishes. When he became chaplain of 
the First Regiment of the New Jersey volun- 
teers, the interest of his uncle in the grand and 
most efficient work of the soldier preacher 
was as great as he could have felt had he been 
his own son. In the subsequent years of his 
manly service as the pastor of large and im- 
portant Churches, though they could not often 
meet, the mutual attachment of these hearts, 
knit together in love and congeniality, was not 
weakened in the least. 

The sad tidings of the beloved nephew's 
death, after a few days of great suffering, 
reached his uncle, at Ocean Grove, and though 
feeble the venerable man went with another 



■ 



196 The Soul-Winner. 

nephew, Rev. Joseph H. James, to Elizabeth, 
N. J., to attend the funeral. Here was a severe 
blow to the aged servant of God; but like all 
that had preceded, it fell upon one bowed 
in complete submission to the divine will. 

CHRISTIAN GRACES TESTED. 

For many years of his life he had tests of his 
patience and weakness that were even more 
severe than the loss of his property in after 
years, yet never was he known to show 
anger, impatience, or fretfulness. Those who 
knew him most intimately, and knew his 
peculiar trials, said, " He had the patience 
of Job." The injunction, " Let patience have 
her perfect work, that ye may be perfect 
entire, wanting nothing," came nearer to its 
fulfillment in him than in any one they had 
ever known. It was said truly of him that 
" the hallowed luster of full salvation was 
never dimmed or obscured by any manifesta- 
tion of feeling contrary to perfect love." 

Let it not be inferred from the facts stated 



Trials and Triumphs. 197 

that he whose history we are now tracing was 
lacking in strength of character. Though in 
manner and spirit gentle as any woman, yet 
he was keenly alive to wrong, and very strong 
in his convictions. When necessary, he could 
administer sharp rebuke. In fact he could use 
the most vigorous language in expressing his 
views in regard to any matter affecting the 
country, the Church, or those he loved, where 
truth, principle, or duty were involved. 

While he was ever ready to manifest inter- 
est even toward a stranger whom he sought to 
benefit, and in a way wonderfully winning, he 
was also the last man to play the coward 
when truth was attacked, or the interests of 
righteousness were at stake. 



■■■■^■HBCIIiHaB^^HiHHIHflB 



198 The Soul-Winner. 



CHAPTER XVIII. 

TRANSLATED. 

r J ^HE Sabbath preceding his last one on 
earth, it was observed, as the aged servant 
of God was passing through the hospital wards, 
that he seemed more feeble than usual. Aft- 
erward he attended the chapel service, and at 
its close offered prayer, as was his custom. For 
the first time his friends noticed repetition and 
incoherency in his language, and the thought 
was expressed by some of them, " Father Yard 
is beginning to fail ; we shall not have him long 
with us." But he came once more. On the 
following Sabbath he visited but one ward. 
As his friends said to him, " You are not able 
to do so much as you have heretofore," he 
yielded and sat down in the chapel. When it 
was time to offer the closing prayer, the chap- 
lain did not call on him, as usual, thinking he 
was not able to offer prayer, but he prayed 



Translated. 199 

without being asked. Some persons present 
said it seemed to them the best prayer they 
had ever heard from his lips. It was most re- 
markable for its divine unction and power. It 
was perfectly correct in expression, without any 
repetition— a most blessed parting prayer, not 
to be forgotten by his co-workers, who with un- 
wonted interest listened to the inspired utter- 
ances of their venerated and beloved friend 
then standing upon the borders of the heavenly 

land. 

When about to part with them he said, 
" Dear friends, I think it very likely this is my 
last Sabbath with you here. I may go to my 
home in heaven before I see you again." 
Then, with reference to that glorious abode of 
the pure and the blessed, he spoke of a happy 
reunion with those who had been his fellow- 
workers in the hospital, with whom he had 
been so pleasantly associated in Christian labor 
and fellowship, and bade them farewell in his 
usual sweet, affectionate manner. 

He seemed to have a premonition of his ap- 



■MHB^^HBBBHBMnai 



200 The Soul-Winner. 

proaching death, yet, as he had spoken in a 
similar manner before, they were not impressed 
that it would be his last Sabbath on earth. 
But he came no more. The next Sabbath he 
spent in the " upper temple." His son relates 
the following particulars : 

On the Sabbath immediately preceding his decease 
father seemed in a remarkable happy state. It was our 
sacramental day, and he partook of the emblems of the 
broken body and shed blood of his divine Redeemer. 

His pastor, Rev. W. J. Paxson, asked him, " How is it 
with you ? " He replied, " I am waiting, only waiting^ 
I felt like taking my upward flight while listening to 
your sermon." 

To go and be "forever with the Lord" seemed infi- 
nitely desirable, and he loved to speak of his anticipations 
of heavenly joys, yet he so loved to work for Jesus that 
he was not impatient to reach his eternal rest. 

On the day before his decease — Monday— when going 
out to attend to some business, he kissed each one of us, 
and on his return seemed so glad to be again safely 
housed with the family. He sat with us all the evening, 
and seemed to take his usual interest in all that occurred. 
He retired about ten o'clock, and the next morning re- 
marked how comfortably he had slept during the night. 

At twelve o'clock of Tuesday, Dec. 5, 1876, he again 



Translated. 201 

went out, bidding us an affectionate farewell, no one sup- 
posing it to be the last adieu. He attended the funeral 
of a son of one of his dearest friends, and afterward vis- 
ited a member of one of his classes. He then went to 
the home of his granddaughter, Mrs. W. H. Heisler, 
where he took tea and spent a short time. Early in the 
evening, as he returned home he stopped at the corner, 
near our house, and spoke a few kind words to a police 
officer of our neighborhood who had often assisted him 
to alight from the street cars, and to the door of our 
dwelling. He entered the hall and went up stairs. In 
the act of reaching for his dressing-gown came the stroke 
which took his life. We heard him fall, and were with 
him in a moment. We saw at once that life was rapidly- 
passing away. Medical aid was summoned immediately 
and restoratives used, but in less than five minutes— with- 
out speaking one word — his happy spirit had taken its 
flight beyond the river. 

Thus suddenly he left us, with stricken hearts, to 
mourn the loss of one of the best of fathers and grand- 
parents that this world has ever known. 

The evening of his decease the policeman before re- 
ferred to as so kindly attentive was called in, and stood 
looking at the face and form as he lay resting from his 
labors. Only a few minutes had elapsed since their part- 
ing at the door, and now the spirit had gone, and he saw 
but the casket, without the jeweled soul. He seemed 
greatly affected at the sudden transition. 



202 The Soul-Winner. 

When the undertaker arrived he proved to be the one 
who had conducted the funeral of the afternoon. He 
had always been particularly attentive to my father at 
funerals, procuring a seat for him where he could hear 
the remarks made by the officiating ministers. When he 
came into the room and beheld the calm, sweet face be- 
fore him, his first expression was, *' Not dead — trans- 
lated ! Like one of old, • he walked with God, and was 
not, for God took him.' " 

Indeed, it did not seem like the work of the King of 
Terrors, but rather as a happy release from the infirmities 
of age. His prayer was answered, " Let me 

" ' My labors with my life lay down, 
And cease at once to work and live.' " 

Often had he expressed this desire, for he thought to be 
sick any length of time would give trouble to his family ; 
and living ever in a state of readiness for heaven, it mat- 
tered not to him how sudden the removal might be. 

This tender solicitude for the beloved ones around him 
was evinced through his entire life. He could not bear 
to give trouble or to be waited upon, though assured by 
every member of his household that it was a pleasure to 
minister to his comfort and to serve him in any way. 

The wife of his son spoke of his death as 
bringing to them .a loss beyond estimate. She 
said, " Father was the light of our house. Al- 



Translated. 203 

ways bright and cheerful ; so kind and loving, 
so self-sacrificing, so good ! It will not seem 
like home without dear father." 

His grandchildren loved him with devoted 
affection. One of them said, " Dear, sweet 
grandpa, how can we live without him ? He 
made our home so bright and happy. He 
always had a smile and kind and loving words 
for us, and was so interested in every thing 
that concerned us. O how we shall miss him ! " 

And surely they do miss his ministries of 
love, for never was there a father or grandfa- 
ther more fondly attached to his kindred, or 
more diligent in promoting the comfort of his 
family. 

The following incident was related by Ed- 
mund S. Yard : 

A short time before his departure an old and cherished 
friend, who was brother-in-law of the sainted Lybrand, 
mentioned in another chapter, called to see my father. 
It was my privilege to be present and listen to the old 
pilgrims as they talked of the sorrows and joys, trials 
and triumphs of their long pilgrimage, and of their cheer- 
ing prospect of reaching the goodly land ahead. It was 



204 The Soul-Winner. 

truly one of the "heavenly places in Christ Jesus." To 
witness the rich communion of those two aged saints 
was indeed a luxury that I shall always think of with 
pleasure. 

The night previous to my father's death the friend 
alluded to dreamed that they had started together on a 
journey to a distant city, and my father reached it first. 
He saw him enter the gate. The reality, how soon ! 
In less than twenty-four hours the beloved friend with 
whom he had taken sweet counsel had indeed " entered 
through the gates into the city," the glorious city of God. 



Tributes and Reminiscences. 205 



CHAPTER XIX. 

TRIBUTES AND REMINISCENCES. 

QINCE the death of Edmund J. Yard a 
^ number of friends have written to the 
writer expressing their high appreciation of 
him and his work. Extracts from some of 
these letters have been introduced in the 
different chapters. It seems fitting that oth- 
ers should be inserted here. 

Extract from a letter of Bishop Levi 
Scott, D.D., dated Odessa, Del., Dec. 18, 1877: 

I have known your brother since the spring of 1828. 
I have known him long and intimately, and I regard 
him as having maintained one of the brightest and 
most beautiful Christian characters I have ever known. 
He was of a warm temperament, sensitive, susceptible 
of high and strong excitement. Yet so fully and con- 
stantly did he live under the inspiration and control of 
the abiding Comforter, that I never detected in him, 
under the most trying circumstances, the violation of (I 
do not say Christian morals, that was out of the ques- 



206 he Soul-Winner. 

tion) the nicest, the finest, and most delicate Christian 
courtesy. 

Thoroughly consecrated, like his divine Master, he 
literally " went about doing good." The members of his 
large classes, the aged, the poor, the sick, the dying, all 
shared his sympathies and kindly attentions. He was 
particularly drawn out toward the young, and especially 
toward young men, many of whom will be stars in his 
crown of rejoicing. 

Rev. J. M. Freeman, D.D., of the Newark 
Conference, and Assistant Secretary of the 
Sunday-School Union of the Methodist Epis- 
copal Church, who was one in whom Mr. Yard 
was specially interested, thus writes in a letter 
to the biographer: 

I never met him without deriving benefit from his 
conversation. Indeed, his very presence was a benedic- 
tion. He gave me much encouragement and sympathy 
in the early years of my ministry, and was always one of 
my best friends. He had at all times a warm side 
toward ministers, and especially the young preachers. 
His love and counsels were to me a great help. His 
memory is treasured by me as of great price, and I 
doubt not that thousands will rise up in the great day 
to call him blessed. 



Tributes and Reminiscences. 207 
From Rev. R. J. Carson, of the Philadelphia 

Conference : 

I shall never forget the kind and loving greeting he 
gave me when I entered on my work as pastor of Union 
Church. Not only the warm grasp of the hand and the 
fervent benediction of the lips and heart, but the holy 
kiss upon the cheek. All these seem now, as I write, of 
recent occurrence, so deep and lasting was the impres- 
sion made upon me. 

Time would fail me to write of the many trained by him 
in his classes to live useful Christian lives. They are to 
be found to-day in the home circle, the marts of busi- 
ness, and in the pulpit ;■ while many whose closing hours 
were soothed and comforted by his loving counsels and 
fervent prayers were ready to greet him as he entered 
the city of the great King. 

When it seemed that, in the providence of God and by 
the call of the Church, I might be appointed to a second 
pastorate in the Union Church, I fondly hoped that 

Father Yard would be spared to welcome me again, but 

this was not to be. 

I miss him greatly ; he would be a great assistance to 

me in my work. But our loss is his gain. The holy 

influence of his devoted spirit lives after him, and 

•' though dead he yet speaketh." 

The venerable Rev. Anthony Atwood, once 

his pastor, writes in a like strain of high 



2o8 The Soul-Winner. 

appreciation. Indeed, similar testimony would 
be borne, no doubt, by all his pastors, for so 
great was his devotion to the cause of Christ, 
and so real his attachment to the Methodistic 
arrangement by which the pastor is changed, 
but the pastorate continued, that as one after 
another these men of God entered upon this 
relation to him, he gave to each a place in his 
heart of hearts, esteeming " them very highly 
in love for their work's sake," and became to 
every one " a true yoke-fellow." 

No apology is needed for the insertion of 
the following without abridgment : 

EDMUND J. YARD, THE SYMPATHIZING 
FRIEND. 

BY REV. E. H. STOKES, D.D. 

Long years ago, under peculiarly impressive circum- 
stances, I came to know the man whose history is 
traced in these pages, and whose memory is embalmed 
in the hearts of thousands. 

I was a lad in the great city of Philadelphia, and so 
far as the Methodist Episcopal Church was concerned, a 
stranger and alone. On a Sabbath evening early in 



Tributes and Reminiscences. 209 

March, I had followed the crowd that surged down 
Arch Street to Fourth, and then down Fourth Street to 
the new and beautiful Union Church. It was in the 
palmy days of the renowned Charles Pitman, and the 
large building was crowded in every part. Pitman then 
just thirty-eight years old, tall, portly, with raven hair, 
dark eyes, ruddy cheeks, and noble brow, was magiste- 
rial in appearance, and as he occupied the pulpit was a 
power even before a word was uttered. But when his lips 
were opened, and tides of living truth flowed forth, he 
was like a mountain torrent, sublime and resistless. 
The crowds that listened to his eloquence were often 
oblivious to all around them, and while saints rejoiced, 
sinners were bowed in penitence at the Master's feet. I 
was in the north gallery, on a seat running to the western 
wall, trembling under the power of the truth. The 
invitation was given. for persons who felt their need of 
salvation to approach the altar. Then the congregation 
arose and sung, " Come, ye sinners, poor and needy.'' 
" Surely," I said, " that means me, for I am very -poor,' 
and very ' needy.' " 

I looked around me ; I knew no one, and no one knew 
me. O, how I longed for mercy and for God. Then I 
looked again ; first at my own situation, then at the 
altar below, then at the long-seemingly infinite dis- 
tance between myself and that place where I longed to 
kneel. 

"I must start," I said. "I can but perish if I go." 
14 



■H^H 



210 The Soul-Winner. 

And then, almost before aware of it, I was on my feet, 
passing along the great gallery aisles, down the long 
stairs, through the cold vestibule, then along the north 
aisle to the front of the church, and so across to the 
south side of the middle aisle. I reached the altar, and 
fell on my knees, sad, sorrowful, broken, almost in 
despair ! Away from friends, away from God ! Want 
and distress were personified in my condition. Scarcely 
had. my trembling limbs touched the kneeling-cushion, 
when I felt upon my head the pressure of soft hands ; 
then a warm cheek throbbing against my own ; while a 
voice, gentle and loving as a mother's, whispered in my 
ear, "Welcome, my dear young brother ; welcome to the 
Church, to the cross, and to the arms and heart of our 
dear Redeemer ! " 

O, how my tempestuous heart was soothed ! The 
effect, in some sense, was like that of the voice of Jesus 
on the stormy Sea of Galilee. For an hour I wept and 
prayed, and tried to look to God for help, and for an 
hour that warm cheek and gentle voice were with me in 
the deepest and tenderest love. The meeting closed, 
and though I was not saved, the same kind voice said, 
"Courage, my young brother; God will surely bless 
you." 

Who was this new and deeply interested friend ? I 
did not know, and was too timid to ask. It was not 
long, however, before I learned that it was the sweet- 
spirited, gentle, and saintly Edmund J. Yard. 



Tributes and Reminiscences. 211 

This little personal narrative reveals the profound 
depths of his sympathetic nature, which was the leading 
and absorbing element of his protracted life. 

Years before, when himself a young man at the foot 
of the cross, he had come into contact with the heart of 
Jesus, and so imbibed the spirit of the divine Man that 
his soul ever after felt its influence, and, " beholding as in 
a glass the glory of the Lord, was changed into the same 
image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the 
Lord." The Church and the world failed to fully under- 
stand him, and sometimes wondered at the gracious 
things they saw. 

His devotion to the cause of God ran through a long 
term of years, and so fully absorbed his thoughts and at- 
tention, that the entire time of every Sabbath and almost 
if not quite every evening of the week were taken up with 
some kind of religious. service — his interest in his fellow- 
men taking hold of every class and condition of society, 
from the cultivated and refined to the low and aban- 
doned. Such was his solicitude for the welfare of all, 
and such his self-abnegation, that men said, " This 
is not usual ; this kind of life is above the ordinary 
plane." And so it was. The high and holy principles 
contained in the teachings of Jesus were constantly ex- 
hibited by him, and their practical development from 
day to day and from year to year was in the form of 
human sympathy. 

Where and under what circumstances, within his 



212 The Soul-Winner. 

reach, did ever a sinner bow at the footstool of mercy 
and not find in him an earnest, intelligent, and sympa- 
thizing friend? How he would linger and weep and 
wait for the promised blessing to come ! How he would 
counsel, exhort, explain, and then, as if in the very act 
of believing for the doubting ones, would take them by 
the hand and lead them into the holy presence of God, 
where, if he could, he would say with his own lips what 
he knew the divine Father was saying all the while, " Thy 
sins which are many are all forgiven thee." " My dear 
young brother," he would say over and over again, " sal- 
vation is of faith ; you must believe and be saved, not be 
saved and then believe. First believe that as a penitent 
and sincere seeker you are pardoned according to the 
divine promise, and the joys that flow from pardon will 
soon follow." 

Thus he would go hour after hour, week after week, 
year after year, teaching, with more than a mother's pa- 
tience, the blessed way of life ; seemingly never weary, 
though the spiritual perceptions of men were dull, and 
though they were very slow to accept the blessed Jesus 
as their refuge and their rest. With him a soul was of 
more value than all other things ; and no time was too 
long, nor labor too great, to secure its salvation. But 
when the blessing came, as soon or later under his in- 
structions it was sure to come, it was often difficult to 
determine which had the greater joy, the newly saved, 
or he who, under God, was the instrument through whom 



Tributes and Reminiscences. 213 

the great salvation came. Never, perhaps, did a soul 
emerge from darkness to light under his instructions 
that did not feel in that moment a strong attachment 
springing up for him, which lasted through life, and 
grew stronger with each succeeding year. With all such 
he communicated in every possible way, striving in the 
Lord for their religious improvement with as much 
interest as he had manifested in their deliverance and 
pardon. 

In young men, perhaps, his interest was greatest. 
Knowing their peculiar temptations, and the dangers 
which beset them in a great city, his sympathies for them 
were deepest, and his solicitude unceasing. In their con- 
version, for which his labors knew no weariness, he felt 
that only the initial part of the .work of salvation was 
accomplished. After a soul had been at the foot of the 
cross, and baptized of the divine Spirit, it was to go forth 
against a current of worldliness and sin sufficient to bear 
the strongest down to ruin, and unless helped in every 
possible way would, after all, be lost. Not that the prin- 
ciples of our holy religion are insufficient, if left to work 
out their legitimate results, to secure eternal salvation. 
They are and always will be sufficient ; but the opposi- 
tions to godliness are so numerous and strong, and the 
newly saved, all unconscious of their character and influ- 
ence, are liable in unsuspecting moments to be attacked 
at some unguarded point, and, before they are aware, led 
on to dangerous ground, if not to the commission of 



2i4- The Soul- Winner. 

some act which brings darkness to the soul. To guard 
against this was his constant solicitude. He went to 
their homes and places of business, following them with 
his counsels and prayers, and watching over them with 
more than a father's love. He wrote to them, admon- 
ished them, wept with them when in trouble, counseled, 
entreated, and prayed with and for them at all times, and 
in all places possible. " My dear," he would say as he 
impressed upon the cheek the tender kiss of love, " I 
have been so concerned about you ! Tell me how you 
are getting along." And however remiss in duty the 
young man had been, or however far he had wandered 
away, the tender solicitude of his faithful friend and his 
gentle and loving words of entreaty rarely, if ever, failed 
to bring back the wanderer to rectitude and to God. He 
sometimes joined institutions and organizations, in which 
he had no special interest, in order to be brought into 
closer communion with those whom he wished to reach 
and benefit. 

As has been stated, he was the leader of four classes. 
In the three classes connected with Union Church it was 
said he had fully one third ot the members of that Church 
under his teachings, besides the class in Bedford Street 
Mission. In those classes his sympathies, so largely 
developed, w T ere taxed and drawn out to the last degree. 
To the trials, temptations, and afflictions of all the ever- 
varying phases of Christian life of all those hundreds he 
listened, week after week, for more than half a century 



Tributes and Reminiscences. 215 

with such patient interest as nothing but the infinite 
grace of God could possibly supply; and for every one 
he had a tender, appropriate, and affectionate word. 
How those people were blessed under his instructions ! 
Some of them would come to class weak, cast down, dis- 
couraged, and yet his gentle words so entered into the 
deep, dark, and sore places of the soul, that they went 
out cheered, encouraged, strengthened, and enabled to 
overcome their spiritual foes, and to triumph over their 
afflictions. Over and over and over again he led them 
away from the sand deserts of earth and time into the 
green pastures of gospel truth, and by the still, sweet, 
refreshing waters of salvation. Often were they con- 
ducted by their faithful leader away from the scorching 
sun of some heavy trial to the grateful shade of the lofty 
cedars of Lebanon on the hill-sides, where the fierce rays 
were broken, and the breezes were soft and sweet. 
From year to year they sat listening to his words, which 
fell as refreshing dew or summer rain upon the tender 
flowers — their open petals drinking in the reviving influ- 
ence. So those souls, opening to receive the life-giving 
words, grew strong and bright and valiant for God. 
Never did their devoted leader become wearied of trav- 
eling with them the rough paths or climbing the danger- 
ous passes. 

"Away on the mountains, wild and bare," would he 
go, if thereby he could bring forth some fleece-torn lamb, 
foot-sore and weary, to the fold of the Good Shepherd. 



216 The Soul-Winner. 

Over and over through his patient and self-denying 
toils, 

"All through the mountains, thunder riven, 

And up from the rocky steep, 
There rose a cry to the gate of heaven, 
1 Rejoice ! I have found my sheep ! ' 
And the angels echoed around the throne, 
1 Rejoice, for the Lord brings back his own ! ' " 

And the lost one found had no higher joy "in the shel- 
ter of the fold " than he, the faithful under-shepherd, who 
had been the agent in bringing it back to God. 

If any of his flock were sick, he seemed to know it by a 
kind of divine intuition. He knew that something was 
wrong, and his attention was needed. Immediately, 
without consulting personal ease or gratification, through 
summer's heat and winter's cold, he was on his way to 
administer the needed aid. Up rickety stair-ways, lead- 
ing to cheerless attics, down into cellars dark and damp, 
or into the abodes of wealth and comfort, he went, with- 
out distinction or choice, as an angel of mercy, bearing 
the glad news of pardon to the guilty, or pouring into the 
hearts of God's dear saints the blessed balm of gospel 
consolation. 

These visits were not the result of spasmodic uprisings 
of the soul, growing out of an appeal to the conscience 
to be diligent in duty, but the long-established and set- 
tled habit of his life. There is now before me a letter 
written by him, bearing date October 13, 1863, in which 



Tributes and Reminiscenxes. 217 

he writes, " On Sunday afternoon I went to the Pennsyl- 
vania Hospital, and had a very precious time. I have 
visited that house for fifty years, and although we have 
had many Christian physicians practicing there, we never 
have had one of them in our meetings to take part until 
now. Perhaps you will be surprised, too, when I tell you 
we have had two young Quakers among our doctors 
happily brought to God. One has joined the Church ; I 
cannot say as to the other, but he took the hymn-book, 
raised the tune of a hymn, and sang the chorus. Is not 
the Lord good to us ? The matron, who is a Quakeress, 
meets with us regularly, kneels in prayer, and helps along 
finely. A Catholic girl has also professed conversion 
lately. So the Lord is favoring us in our labors. Pray 
for us, that the work may spread and be glorious." 

Those blessed visits he continued up to the last Sab- 
bath of his life. There, among the wounded, suffering, 
and dying, he moved like the presence of God, soft as 
night dews fall, cheerful as the fresh light of the morn- 
ing, smoothing the pillow, bathing the brow, and whis- 
pering blessed words of immortal hope to the soul. 
Often he closed the eyes of the dying, comforted their 
weeping friends, and accompanied them to the grave, 
bearing words of inspiration upon his lips as from Him 
who said, " I am the resurrection and the life," and gave 
the last tribute of affection in silent tears. 

But as in the sky are many wonderful changes, so 
there were in his paths of duty. They were not all sad. 



218 The Soul-Winner. 

He had learned more effectually than any man I ever 
knew how to " rejoice with them that rejoice, and to 
weep with them that weep." To-day he would sorrow 
over the afflicted or the erring, and to-morrow rejoice 
with high exultation over one who had just entered upon 
the Christian life, or one who in full view of eternal glory 
was about to step out of time to be " forever with the 
Lord." His soul, exceedingly sensitive to these extremes, 
felt the touch of either, and vibrated to both. He was at 
home in either sphere. Joy and sorrow with him were 
twin brothers, and so much alike that at times we hardly 
knew which was present — his joy was so tender and his 
sorrow so hopeful that both were blessed. Which was 
best we scarcely knew where both were only good. 

The writer remembers a scene of unusual interest. It 
was in the large Union Church tent at a camp-meeting 
held at Swedesborough, N. J., in 1842. The services 
were led by Edmund J. Yard. It had been a protracted 
struggle, which had run far into the night, for the con- 
version of sinners and the sanctification of believers. 
The conflict with the powers of darkness was prolonged 
and painful. Suddenly one of the company, who had 
been the subject of a great affliction in the death of his 
nearest friend, seemed to have a vision of the departed, 
surrounded by the glory of the blessed world. The joy 
of his own heart was like a stormy sky, lit up by the daz- 
zling splendors of the noonday sun. That joy was con- 
tagious, and flew like lightning. The leader caught the 



Tributes and Reminiscences. 219 

spirit ; the tent was ablaze with the awful glory, and 
all were overwhelmed with the bliss of heaven ! And so 
his heart was always quick to respond to joy or sorrow 
in all their appropriate manifestations. 

But let us step softly ! There is a holy hush in the air ! 
The angels have been down among men, and as they 
have passed here and there in obedience to divine com- 
mand, beckoning to this one and that, they to whom the 
signal was given have followed the angelic lead. Just 
now they came and fixed their tender and loving gaze 
upon one so like themselves, and with a gentle wave of 
the hand whispered, " Come ! " and the angelic convoy, 
with the spirit of the just man made perfect, disappeared 
from view, and entered through the gates into the eternal 
city. From that moment Edmund J. Yard was seen 
no more among men, but his example and memory as a 
winner of precious souls will long live among men to 
guide and encourage faithful workers for Jesus. 

Ocean Grove, N. J., January \ 1880. 



220 The Soul-Winner. 



CHAPTER XX. 

CLOSING WORDS. 

A ND now having traced the steps of my 
ascended brother through his long pil- 
grimage, having sought to portray him in his 
varied spheres of joyous service for the Mas- 
ter whom he loved and so actively served, 
and having listened to the remembrances of 
those who knew and loved him, I will only 
add a few words of appreciation and of grat- 
itude for what he was to me. 

As my brother Edmund was nearly twenty 
years older than myself, and left home during 
my childhood, I was unacquainted with his 
early life, except as I had learned of it from 
my parents and brothers and himself. 

Of his beautiful example of filial devotion, 
his affectionate disposition, and blameless 
deportment, I had heard so much during my 
whole life, that I regarded him with a kind of 



Closing Words. 221 

veneration. And, moreover, as my father died 
when I was yet young, I always looked up to 
my eldest brother as a father. His counsel I 
regarded as one of my greatest blessings, and 
his society as a most precious privilege. 
Through all my life his visits to my home 
were anticipated with exceeding joy, and his 
presence valued as a choice benediction. 

It was because he bore the image of the 
heavenly, the gentle, tender, loving spirit of 
Jesus, that he was so revered and prized by 
me. His words were so " seasoned with grace," 
and he shed around an influence so hallowed, 
that it always drew me nearer to the " Friend 
that sticketh closer than a brother." 

To his Christ-like example, excellent advice, 
and faithful prayers, I am greatly indebted for 
my own religious life and advancement in 
Christian experience. 

In my early life his earnest labors for Christ 
furnished an incentive to me to be "diligent 
in all good works." When I listened to the 
recitals of his visits to the sick, and saw his 



222 The Soul-Winner. 

countenance light up as he would tell of the 
conversion of precious souls and of the tri- 
umphant death of many whom he had led to 
Jesus, how my heart was thrilled ! and how I 
wished and prayed that I might be as success- 
ful as my brother in winning souls ! 

Nor was this blessed influence confined to 
my early life. All through the years which 
followed, the intercourse I was permitted to 
enjoy with his pure spirit was truly delightful, 
and had a most cheering and elevating effect 
upon me. In sickness and sorrow his tender 
sympathy and kind ministrations afforded me 
comfort unspeakable, and were valued among 
my chief earthly blessings. 

Never was that influence more marked or 
more highly prized and enjoyed than in the 
later years of his life. Our interviews were 
not unfrequent, though not residing near to 
each other, and of those sweet seasons of com- 
munion I cherish the most vivid remem- 
brance. 

The last was when I was an invalid, spend- 



Closing Words. 223 

ing a few months in Philadelphia, a short time 
previous to his departure to the heavenly- 
land. 

With some difficulty he had ascended the 
stairs, and as he entered my room seemed 
nearly out of breath. I had observed in him 
for some time increasing weakness of the 
limbs and difficulty of breathing upon any 
extra exertion he would make, and as he 
approached me I said to him, " I fear this 
is too much for you ; coming up the stairs has 
quite overcome you." 

Smiling, he replied, " Yes, the old tabernacle 
is giving way, and soon will be taken down. 
I realize, sister, that I am an old man, but I 
shall renew my strength and my youth after 
awhile." 

Then, talking of some of the visits he had 
just been making to the sick and the bereaved, 
in which " the dear Saviour was very near," he 
seemed to exult with exceeding joy, and spoke 
sweetly of the goodness of God in giving him 
strength at his advanced age to do a little 



224 The Soul-Winner. 

work for Him, and then to give him such 
blessings, such manifestations of his pres- 
ence, and abounding comforts in serving 
him. " O, what reason I have for thankful- 
ness," he said ; " surely every breath should 
be praise." 

His visit was brief, and I felt unusually sad 
at parting with him, for I felt that it might 
be his last visit to me, which indeed it 
proved. As he rose from his seat to leave he 
said, " I must go now, sister, for I want to do 
some more visiting to-day. There are several 
other sick people I must see before I go 
home." 

How precious were his last words of ten- 
der solicitude and affectionate interest as he 
took my hand and spoke of my sickness, 
and the trials through which I was pass- 
ing, closing with the words, " Never mind, 
sister, it will all be over in a little while, 
and heaven will recompense for all we suffer 
here." 

I saw him no more, not even in death, for 



Closing Words. 225 

sickness kept me prostrate, and I was not 
permitted to attend his funeral. 

Our next meeting will be where " the 
inhabitants shall not say, I am sick." 

Those who looked upon his face, beautiful 
in death, remarked that no trace of death's 
work was visible. Serene, placid, heavenly, he 
seemed as if in a sweet slumber ; not as in the 
embrace of the King of Terrors, an enemy ; 
but in delightful repose, " asleep in Jesus," 
awaiting his call at the dawning of the eternal 
day, when "them also which sleep in Jesus 
will God bring with him." 

The following lines, a sister's tribute, were 
written soon after his transit to the land of 
the blest : 

TRANSFERRED TO THE BRIGHTER WORLD — 
EDMUND J. YARD. 

BY HIS SISTER, MRS. MARY D. JAMES. 

As sets the bright sun in the cloudless west, 

Undimmed by a shadow — so calm, so blest, 

The sainted one passed away to his rest, 

In the paradise above. 
15 



226 The Soul-Winner. 

And leaving behind him a radiance bright, 
Like the glorious sun when it hides from sight 
'Neath the amber sky, in the sweet twilight 
Of the closing autumn day. 

The golden grain waving, so ripe and fair, 
Was standing but yesterday grandly there ; 
The reaper came quickly ! The field is bare ! 
The wheat is garnered to-day ! 

So richly ripe in the fullness of grace, 
So saintly, so meet for the holy place 
Where the pure ones dwell, and behold his face, 
The infinite God of love ! 

As a river flowed his beautiful life, 
Serenely grand, amid conflict and strife ! 
"With labors and trials each hour so rife ; 
Yet ever peaceful his soul ! 

Thus fourscore years had his life flowed on, 
And rich were the treasures his labors had won, 
Securely " laid up " till his work was done : 
How vast his possessions there ! 

He lived for the sick, for the poor, and distressed ; 
He lived that the dying might find heaven's rest ; 
He lived that the suff'ring, in Christ might be blest 
His life was a mission of love. 



Closing Words. 227 

As shuts a beautiful flower at night, 
Inclosing its charms till the morning light, 
Then opening again to regale the sight 
With its smiling loveliness : 



So, closing at evening his heaven-lit eyes, 
Till the morning's bright dawn beyond the skies, 
Then opening his vision, with glad surprise, 
In the realms of endless day ! 

O, heaven ! sweet heaven ! earth's purest and best 
Are gathered there, in the home of the blest ! 
What hallowed communion ! what rapture ! what rest ! 
In the glorious city of God ! 

In taking leave of my readers I must add a 
word in regard to the responsibility resting 
upon those who profess to be followers of Him 
who hath " left us this example, that we should 
walk in his steps." 

In the life of the one whose Christlike course 
we have been tracing we have found the secret 
of power for winning souls to be, not in ex- 
traordinary gifts, nor in remarkable natural 
talents, nor in special culture, but in the divine 
inspiration and sacred influence resulting from 



228 The Soul-Winner. 

union with the Source of power, of wisdom, 
and of love. 

Nature, it is true, had endowed him with an 
affectionate and kind disposition, a bland and 
gentle manner, a soft and pleasant voice, and 
an unusual degree of unselfishness which had 
been always evinced from his early childhood ; 
but it was the indwelling of the Holy Spirit — 
the living principle of divine love permeating 
his whole being — actuating his entire life which 
made him what he was for God and humanity. 
And what he was, and what he did, others may 
be and do if in communication with the same 
Source of grace and power. For to all God's 
children, without distinction or exception, is 
the blessed assurance given, that " God is able 
to make all grace abound toward you ; that ye, 
always having all sufficiency in all things, may 
abound to every good work." 2 Cor. ix, 8. It 
is a momentous truth that God holds every one 
responsible, not only for what he is and what he 
does, but for what he might be and do if filled 
with the Holy Spirit. This priceless gift is as 



Closing Words. 229 

free as the air we breathe. Under its influence 
the humblest believer may do work that will 
astonish the world. Without it life must be 
a failure. Dear reader, are you living in the 
fullness of this blessing? 

A failure on the part of a child of God to 
avail himself of all the glorious possibilities of 
grace, whereby he could be instrumental in 
bringing souls to Jesus, is an awful failure, in- 
volving the eternal interests of immortal souls, 
and through endless ages must be a loss un- 
speakable to the delinquent Christian. If, 
through the infinite merits of the atonement, 
he should be numbered with the redeemed in 
heaven, he will be "saved, yet so as by fire;" 
and the consciousness that golden opportuni- 
ties for soul-winning had been lost by his 
own failure to " apprehend that for which 
he was apprehended of Christ Jesus," must, 
in the great day of reckoning, cause regrets 
and self-reproach. And who can doubt 
that many souls will, from such failure, find 
a lower position in the kingdom above 



230 The Soul-Winner. 

than they would have had if they had been 
faithful in the improvement of their oppor- 
tunities? 

It is a most solemn truth, that upon every 
child of God is laid the tremendous responsi- 
bility of bringing souls to Jesus. There- 
fore every child of God ought in all circum- 
stances of life to be a Soul- Winner. 



" He that winneth souls is wise." 

I heard a voice speak from the skies, 
" The one that winneth souls is wise," 

And " as the stars shall shine." 
Who from the dreadful ways of sin 
A soul shall turn, that soul shall win : 

This joy may now be thine. 

Go, search for jewels day by day ; 
Go, take them from the miry clay 

To Calvary's open fount — 
' The blood that cleanseth sin-stained souls, 
And, ever flowing, onward rolls 

Down from the sacred mount. 



Closing Words. 231 

There, in that purifying stream, 
How gloriously those gems will gleam, 

Such precious gems of God ! 
Souls, deathless souls, that once were los 
But ransomed at the priceless cost 

Of our Redeemer's blood. 

Great Saviour, let thy tender love 
Our hearts to earnest effort move 

To rescue sinners lost ; 
Let this most blessed work be mine : 
To gather gems for Christ to shine — 

Souls his own life have cost. 



THE END. 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 



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